Belated Congratualations, It's a Girl
by Sparky She-Demon
Summary: Well, this is something that has been bouncing around in my head for several months now. I wondered, what if there was a child that Jen did not tell Gibbs about? Ch. 16 is up finally. Reviews are welcome!
1. Prologue

"Belated Congratulations, It's a Girl"

May 10, 2000, Washington D.C.

For the most part, doing blood work for the agents that were returning from missions overseas was a usually uneventful task. Sure you got the occasional dangerous illness that the agent had contracted, but that was really uncommon, considering that the agents that were going abroad had to get many shots in order to go. But this time, blood work for a female agent was somewhat off. He looked at the name of the agent: Jenny Shepard. He'd worked with her while in France along with another agent. She'd actually stolen a boat that would get them out of the country quickly. Dr. Mallard than ordered the tests be run again, just to make sure that the tests weren't messed up. When he got the second tests back, he sat back in his chair and simply thought,  
"Oh my!"

Ducky was giving his preliminary report on the blood tests to Director Morrow. For the most part, he did not seem to be too surprised. Until he came to Agent Shepard's results that was.

"Doctor what are the explanations for these elevated hormone levels?" he asked.

"Well sir, there is one main explanation, but I have to talk with her myself".

"I'll send her down to you tomorrow, Doctor."

"I'd be guessing, but I'll ask her tomorrow to confirm my suspicions, sir."

The next morning in Autopsy…

Well one thing could be said for Agent Shepard. She was always on time. Today was a close shave with being late. She looked a little peaked and was rather pale. In fact she looked like she could vomit at the least provocation. What further confirmed his suspicions was when she noticed the body that he was preparing to do an autopsy on. It had been a sailor that had died in a car accident, but under weird circumstances. Her face than turned green and he simply pointed to the sink, which she made a mad dash to. After she finished, he decided that now was the time to talk with her.

"So Agent Shepard, do you have any idea why you were ordered to visit me down here?"

"Um, not really just that Director Morrow said that you wanted to talk to me about my blood work", she replied.

"Your blood work came back a little off; you want to hazard a guess as to why it was like that?"

"I've been feeling a little ill for the past two weeks, but I can't think what that could possibly be."

Ducky was getting tired of the beating around the bush, so he decided to stop it himself with saying:

"You know it's only a matter of time before people will start to notice, Agent Shepard"

"I still have no idea what you are talking about, and now if you'll excuse me, I have work to do before I go to Great Lakes"

Ducky in an attempt to get her attention for one last time said the final blow:

"You're about three months along, Agent Shepard and I believe that you know that".

That stopped Jen in her tracks. She then turned to Ducky with a sad smile on her face.

"I knew it was only a matter of time before they would ask for the blood work, and the elevated hormone levels would be noticed, but I'm glad it was noticed by you" "Have you told anyone else?"

"You know that I have to tell the Director, and just out of curiosity who is the father of the child?"

"I think that you know the answer to your question Doctor"

"Does he know", Ducky then asked but he answered his own question, "If he knew he'd be here".

"Don't tell him" she said urgently.

"He's going to find out sooner or later"

"I'd prefer later rather than sooner, Doctor Mallard and I'm going to need some leave time from late October through December and maybe some of January"

"Okay, I will arrange it with the Director"

As Ducky started the paperwork, he stopped for a moment. He knew Jethro would want to know that he had a child on the way. But he was bound by his oath to keep secret what his patients wanted secret.

Two days later, when he went to the Director, he had a few questions that were to be asked of him. They were of the basic nature given the situation.

"Do you know who the father is, Doctor Mallard?"

"Yes, I do but I was asked not to say anything".

"Its agent Gibbs isn't it?" Director Morrow asked.

"Yes sir, it is".

September 2005

"I just want to kill the bastard!" exclaimed Agent Gibbs. Ducky assumed that the "bastard" was Ari Haswari: A rogue Mossad officer and a suspected terrorist who'd once taken Autopsy hostage, blown his assistant Gerald Jackson's shoulder out, shot Jethro in the shoulder, kidnapped Agent Todd, then Gibbs shot him in return, and his most recent crimes were murdering Agent Todd and shooting into the forensics lab. There was one problem however: Lack of proof. One thing that he had to grudgingly admit that Haswari was good at his job.

"Well, Jethro you and I are a pair of chauvinists, women will never be equal in our eyes until equal in death".

"One has to wonder what made him such a sadist." Ducky asked of his old friend.

"I don't give a damn; I just want to shoot the bastard!" Jethro said as he left.

Ducky sat down and finished his drink. There was one more surprise in store for Jethro this day. His old lover (and mother of his child) was now his boss. He wished he could be in MTAC to see the look on his friend's face. He also remembered the secret that he'd been keeping from him for five years now. There was someone that he was completely unaware of. He really wanted to tell Jethro, but he was bound by doctor-patient privilege until the patient gave the go ahead. But he knew that the patient was not ready to tell Jethro.

"As much as I like you Jethro, I would not shoot NCIS in the head" said Director Morrow as he left.

"He's your problem now Director" were his final words before he left MTAC.

Gibbs was sitting wondering who his new boss would be. He was thinking of the people that were in line for the job. But the last person he expected to see as his new boss turned around and simply said:

"Hello Jethro"

Many memories began to come unbidden to his mind. Rare memories of happiness, joy, and comfort were what came to his mind first. Than the last and worst memory resurfaced; this was one of the memories that he tried to suppress. His new boss was his ex-girlfriend Jenny Shepard.

"Shall we skip you haven't changed a bit bull?"

"Why should we start lying to each other now Jen?" was his reply.

He got up and stood across from her. He looked her up and down. She really hadn't changed a bit. Except for one thing; even though she was the director of NCIS now, she still looked like she carried a secret weight that was completely unrelated to the job.

"You were a good agent Jen, especially undercover"

The look in her eyes at that statement said, "Don't go there". She than simply said:

"Jethro"

"Madame Director"

Ducky had done Caitlin's autopsy mechanically; trying not to think about the fact that unlike so many other bodies, he knew who this person was. He'd also been called by Gerald, only to be interrupted by Ari, who'd talked him into meeting him. He went to the elevator to go upstairs. On his way up, the elevator stopped. It was Director Shepard. They exchanged some pleasantries before the doors shut and once they shut, Ducky began to ask the question that had been bugging him all day.

"Did you tell him?"

"No I did not; he's had enough to deal with in the past 48 hours".

His question apparently answered, they stood in silence for the next few minutes. Just before she left for her car he asked:

"How is Alexandra doing?" "Does she like it here in DC?"

"She's doing fine and she's getting used to it".

Ducky decided that his next question could wait until tomorrow, if he lived through the night.

The next morning, after a night of excitement he read the newspaper. He then got the answer to his final question that he did not ask. The newspaper article about Director Shepard said that she also had her five year old "cousin" with her in Washington, of whom she was her legal guardian. He smiled to himself.

"If only they knew the truth"

Two years later…

Again he was doing blood work. Again it was for the now Director Shepard. And, unlike the first time, this time the news was not good. There were elevated levels of creatine kinase in her blood. It was a marker of a muscular disease that was usually terminal. When he told her the news, she asked him to do one more thing.

"I need you to do another set of blood work, for Alex"

"If I may ask, why?"

"I want to make sure that she also does not have any hallmarks for the illness that I have".

"That would require genetic work as she has no apparent symptoms, and that would require you to tell the people doing the work about Alex's father," was his response.

"Okay, but tell them that if they reveal anything at all, they will lose their jobs, and that will be the least of their worries".

Ducky was impatiently waiting the results of Alex's genetic markers. He was worried that she, like her mother had "won" the genetic lottery, by being another female with muscular dystrophy. But from what he knew of her father's background, she stood a pretty good chance of not getting it. Muscular dystrophy was rare in women, but not unknown.

After about two hours…

This was taking too long. Something bad must have happened and... Then Ducky saw the geneticist walking towards him and stood up. The doctor then said:

"Whoever her father is, he kept her from getting muscular dystrophy".

Ducky breathed a sigh of relief. Alex got more from her dad than her mom.

"Thank you for doing this on such short notice, Doctor Riesman, I owe you one."

"It was no problem, we weren't busy anyway"

As Ducky left, his friend Doctor Riesman said to himself:

"I've never seen him this worried before, who is it that needed that work done for their child?"

Ducky was almost jubilant. The secret that he'd kept to himself for over 8 years would now have to come out. He got to NCIS headquarters in record time. He nearly broke the elevator's button in order to get up there fast. Unfortunately, he ran into Gibbs on his way up.

"Where are you going in such a hurry Duck?" he asked of him.

"Just need to share something with the Director".


	2. Prologue Part 2

He left Gibbs as fast as he could; he had to tell the Director the good news. As he got to her office and closed the door, he handed the test results to her.

"You know what this means, Director?"

"And what might that be Doctor?

"You will now have to introduce Alexandra to someone she should have always known, and you have to introduce Jethro to someone he should have known about eight and a half years ago"

"I'll tell them Ducky, once school ends for the summer", she said.

"You better"

One month later…

Something horrible had happened. Director Shepard had been murdered by the Russian mob. It was a mercy that she had died the way that she did. Small comfort it would be to those that she left behind. She left behind her "cousin" and several people to whom she was close to at work, namely Special Agent Gibbs. Telling relatives that a loved one was dead, was a task that no one envied; he had done it twice, and it never got any easier. He went to Headmaster Seagram's office, and asked,

"Could you please summon Alexandra Shepard to your office please, an emergency has come up in the family and she needs to be told".

"Is it about her mother?"

"Yes it is, she is dead"

That was enough for Headmaster Seagram; he gunned the intercom button and said,

"Alexandra Shepard please report to the Headmaster's office immediately"

About five minutes later, Alex Shepard walked in. She glanced around suspiciously, because she was getting way too familiar with his office because of the fights she'd been in. She noticed the look on the Headmaster's face and noticed Doctor Mallard. The look on his face wasn't any better.

"What's the matter Ducky?" she asked.

Headmaster Seagram stood up and said, "I'll be leaving you two".

Than Alex asked him, "What's wrong Ducky, is it about Mom?"

Ducky took a deep breath and said:

"Alexandra, I am so sorry"

Alexandra looked bewildered. She was visibly trying to keep herself from crying. Ducky than continued with,

"It was a quick death and she went down fighting, she died with her boots on, the way she would've wanted to die".

"I'd rather her not be dead at all!" Alex finally said with a cry.

She cried into Ducky's shoulder for about ten minutes, and then started to tremble.

"What's going to become of me?"

"The next few days are going to be busy; you'll be staying with me."

"I'll go get my things"

As she left, Ducky wondered what the future would hold for this child, the progeny of his two best friends, one of whom was dead, the other totally unaware of his child's existence. He'd already talked with the lawyer; he would be looking after Alex, but could not tell her father about her until she was fourteen, with the exception of Alex coming into danger. He did not want to keep the secret from Jethro, but he could not say a word.


	3. A Favor for Sgt Wilson

A year and a half later…

For once, she was in the high school workout room. Alex Shepard hated being in the elementary school gym, because it did not have a punching bag. Well, the elementary gym used to have a punching bag, bug she'd beaten it to a pulp. But she also did not feel comfortable in the elementary gym. Another reason why she probably liked the high school workout room was the fact that it was forbidden for someone her age to be in there. If she was caught she'd be sent to the Headmaster's office… again. She didn't give a damn whether she got caught or not, she just needed to vent her anger in a way that no one else came to physical harm. She'd played soccer and lacrosse, among other things, for her school and had been kicked off every team at the school for excessive roughness. Ducky was getting worried about her. He'd wanted to send her to a shrink, but she'd objected. She had very few people that she let into her life, because she was afraid of losing them, like she had her mother. While she was thinking and punching, the best possible person to catch her in the high school workout room caught her. It was former Staff Sergeant Michael Wilson, one of the few people that she let into her head.

"You know that you're not allowed to be in here, Miss Shepard"

"I know that. I just wanted to blow off some steam before I go to bed".

"If you are done now, I won't report you to the headmaster"

"Thanks. I was just getting ready to leave".

As she left the workout room, Wilson watched her. He knew that her mother had been murdered by the Russian mob, and that she did not know who her father was. In other words, some people might consider her to be a bastard. Very few people had called her that to her face. She also needed a healthy outlet for her anger. He then realized what he could do.

"I'll talk to the judo team coach, and see if he will let Alex onto the team".

Sgt. Wilson went searching for Mr. Wallace. When he found him, he asked for a private conversation.

"I need to call in that favor you said that you'd give me, does it still stand?"

"Of course Matt, what is it?"

"I want you to let Alexandra Shepard onto the judo team".

Mr. Wallace's reaction was understandable.

"Matt, she's been kicked off every other team at the school for excessive roughness!"

"Well I thought that her excessive roughness issues could be channeled into being on the judo team?"

Mr. Wallace thought for a moment. Then he said

"I won't make any promises, but I'll let her try out for the team".

"Thanks Bill, you're a godsend"


	4. There's a New Sherriff in Town

Chapter IV: There's a New Sherriff in Town

Soon to be ex Director Leon Vance took a final look around his office. He would not miss the excitement. His close shave with death put some things in perspective for him. He'd also helped in the picking of his replacement. He would soon leave for MTAC to introduce Gibbs to his new boss. The new Director would have an easier time getting Gibbs to trust them.

"Well, what do you think Director?"

"It's bigger than where I used to work, but I think that I'll come to like it".

Leon Vance gave one of his last orders:

"Summon Agent Gibbs to MTAC immediately".

Once Agent Gibbs got to MTAC, he looked at Vance expectantly and asked:

"So who's your replacement?"

"Someone that has had prior experience with NCIS, but was not an agent."

Leon then said:

"Good luck Director"

Gibbs had only a fraction of a second to think because the replacement turned around and said:

"Hello Agent Gibbs, it's been a while".

Gibbs was in complete shock, the new director of NCIS was former Marine Lt. Colonel Sarah Mackenzie. He stood at attention, something that had been ground into him in basic training. He could practically feel his chevrons burning on his arm, three up two down.

"Relax, Agent Gibbs, neither of us is on active duty anymore".

It took Gibbs a moment to take in all in. She was rather close to someone who had been under investigation for murder. He did not know whether they were still close, but judging from the ring on her left hand, they most definitely were.

"Came to his senses, did he" asked Gibbs, motioning to the ring.

"As a matter of fact, he did"

Gibbs walked down to the situation room. He could not believe who their new boss was. DiNozzo would be dumbstruck. Ziva, well he'd wait and see what would happen. McGee would deal with it. Abby would be... Abby. Ducky would be his usual self.

"Hey el jefe, who's the new Director?" asked DiNozzo.

"It's a new Madame Director again, and she's a former Marine Lt. Colonel", was Gibb's reply.

DiNozzo's face turned panicky.

"Please tell me that she was never a JAG lawyer" was his plea.

"I could tell you that, but then I'd be lying".

Tony's face turned white as a sheet.

"Good Lord"

Meanwhile in the Forensics Lab….

Major Clay Sciuto of the USMC was making a surprise visit to his cousin Abby. They hadn't seen each other in a long time, and since he was in Washington on leave, he'd decided to make the visit.

"Hey there, little lady"

Abby turned around and yelled:

"Clay, it's been way to long!"

She ran and started to hug him. She began to hug him so hard, he had to say:

"Gently, Abby, gently, I had to eject last month and I'm still recovering"

"Gotcha, I'm going to go upstairs and introduce you to Team Gibbs!"

Back in the situation room….

Tony regained his composure and began to say things he probably should not.

"Lovely, another female director"

"Do you think that she'll make me go under cover with Ziva?"

"She was close to that flyboy lawyer; did he ever come to his senses?"

Gibbs then noticed something that was not good. A person that would not be amused with the direction of Tony's conversation was listening to every word Tony said. It was the now Captain Rabb. He was smirking like a Cheshire Cat. Gibbs began to try and get Tony's attention with the high sign. He was digging himself into a hole, because not only was Rabb present, their new boss was also listening and also had an identical crooked grin.

"I really thought that he murdered that lieutenant"

Then probably the worst day that DiNozzo would ever have as an NCIS agent began.

"Well Agent DiNozzo, thanks for your confidence in my innocence"

Tony's face turned maroon. He then asked Gibbs:

"Don't tell me that there is an O-6 naval aviator with a law degree standing right behind me"

"There's an O-6 naval aviator with a law degree standing right behind you"

"I asked you not to tell me that!"

Then Ziva added:

"You also forgot a rather handsome naval aviator with a law degree"

Rabb smirked at DiNozzo discomfiture, and then added:

"As an answer to your question as to whether I came to my senses, take a look at the Director's left hand".

DiNozzo took a look. What he saw was that he'd just made a colossal fool out of himself in front of his new boss and her husband. Then Clay and Abby decided to give Tony a break.

"Hey Abby, didn't Doctor Mallard say something about wanting to show Agent DiNozzo something weird with that body that you guys just found at Quantico?"

Catching her cousin's drift she said:

"Yeah Tony, why don't we go down and see what Ducky wants"

The three of them beat a hasty retreat to the elevator, with Clay giving his respects to a higher ranking officer rather sarcastically.

DiNozzo was recovering his composure when he asked:

"You and Rabb don't like each other very much do you Clay"

"I don't want to talk about it".


	5. From Russia, No Love

Chapter V: From Russia, No Love

Sasha Koniev was in the doghouse. He'd been in the doghouse ever since he'd accidently sent money to the FSB instead of the money laundering front that he was supposed to send it to. He was punished by having to upload midget porn from the internet. It was demeaning for someone of his talents to have to do that. Ever since that day, he'd been trying to find his way out. He was hacking anywhere and everywhere to find this information. He was even checking employee benefits in the US government agencies. To evade counter-hackers, he was working backwards from Y. He'd been in the S's for a bit. Then he got to the name Shepard. He noticed that there was an active claimant on the policy of Jenny Shepard. He remembered a Jenny Shepard from the tales of the old timers in the Vor e Zakone. She along with another agent had either put in prison or put in the ground at least 15 vors when they were working in Russia. Her and that other agent were rumored to be lovers. They'd managed to kill her, but not Special Agent Gibbs, who was that other agent. They'd also been trying to find leverage on him for years. He checked the name of the person that was the claimant on her policy. He hit a gold mine. The person that was claiming the money was a 10 year old by the name of Alexandra Shepard. He found a picture of the kid. She was the spitting image of her "cousin". Save for those piercing icy blue eyes. He knew one thing. He was now officially out of the doghouse.

"Hey boss, you need to come down here. I found something big!"

"It better be, for you calling me at this time of night"

"Trust me boss, it is HUGE!"

"Alright, I'm coming"

Sasha was ecstatic. Hopefully he would no longer have to upload midget porn form the internet. His boss, Yuri arrived.

"This had better be good, or you're on porn duty for six more months"

"You remember an Agent Jethro Gibbs?"

"He's kind of hard to forget. He put about 15 of our leader either in prison or in the ground. I've been wanting to have something on him for years", said Yuri.

"Well, I just found the perfect thing to leverage him on"

Yuri looked at the insurance claim and at the picture of the child. His smile was of the cat that had swallowed the canary.

"As of right now, you no longer have to upload midget porn from the internet. If this girl is who you say she is, you are absolutely out of the doghouse"

As his boss left, Sasha grinned. Agent Gibbs was about to get his payback, that was 10 years overdue.


	6. Career Day, With a Twist

Chapter VI: Career Day, With a Twist

It was Career Day for the high school students at Hawker Hall. For them it was mandatory. The kids in 4th through 8th grades were also welcome to come. But they had to clear it with their homeroom teacher first. When it became known that NCIS was going to be giving a talk, Alexandra Shepard jumped at the chance. She wanted to hear them talk and she had some questions for them. She went to the teacher's lounge with her thermos to swipe some coffee. Recently, she'd acquired the taste for the stuff. She needed the caffeine jolt in the morning; Mountain Dew just could not do it for her anymore. She got to the talk a little early, because she wanted to get a good seat. As the people from NCIS came out, she was surprised. She recognized each of them. Gibbs, Ducky, Tony, Ziva, and McGee were all there. She smirked. Her day just became better.

As Ducky walked in, he saw something that he was worried about. Alex was there, and she was sitting in the front row. He knew that she had questions to ask and not all of them pertinent to the reason for the talk today. As the talk went on, her scowl got darker and darker. When the time came to ask questions of the group, he knew she would start on Gibbs. She patiently waited her turn to ask her question, which was rather pointed.

"So Agent Gibbs, you say that NCIS agents have to be US citizens for at least six months?"

"That's correct, why do you ask?"

"I believe that Agent David has been a citizen for barely five months, am I not correct?"

The look on Gibb's face was shocked. How would she know that?

"She was on an accelerated track for citizenship, Miss…"

"Shepard. Alex Shepard"

"Well Miss Shepard, does that answer your question?"

She smirked and said:

"It answers my first question, I have one more: When you become director of NCIS, why does it seem that you get a bulls eye painted on your back?"

That got the entire teams attention. They were shocked that someone would ask and/or say that. Gibbs was the first to recover, and then asked,

"Only one NCIS director has been killed on the job, and our previous director has just retired."

"It's still one too many for the Naval Criminally Incompetent Service?"

Headmaster Seagram had had enough. He got up and said:

"Miss Shepard, will you please wait in the hall for me to deal with you later."

Alex stood up and said in a snarky tone:

"As you wish Headmaster"

Mercifully, the question session was over after that. After the other kids had left, Headmaster Seagram turned to the team and said:

"I apologize for Miss Shepard's behavior. She's been like that ever since her cousin was murdered"

Gibbs then said:

"When was her cousin murdered?"  
"About 3 and a half years ago…"

Seagram's explanation was cut short by a loud noise that sounded like someone being thrown up against the wall. Sergeant Wilson came rushing in, the news was not good.

"Carmichael and Shepard are going at it again, they have the judo mats out, but the fight is getting dirty, and I can only hold onto one of them, I'll need help".

Gibbs then said:

"Why don't we help?"

When the group got to the judo mats they watched the fight for a few minutes. Carmichael was at least four years older, 50 pounds heavier, and half a foot taller than Alex, but was getting the crap beaten out of him. They were also yelling at each other while they were fighting.

"Carmichael, you bastard, you're just jealous that I knocked you off the judo team"

"Bastard, I'm no bastard. If anyone's a bastard you are, Shepard. You don't know who your father is, your grandfather killed himself, your mother didn't have the common sense to get out of a burning building, and you know what's going to happen to you? You're going to kill yourself in a burning building!"

That was when both Gibbs and Wilson stepped in. Wilson grabbed Carmichael and Gibbs grabbed Alex. Neither had an easy task. Gibbs had to say something to her get her to stop struggling.

"Ten-HUT!" he said in his best drill instructor tone. This got her attention, Sgt. Wilson's, and the librarian. Unfortunately, when coming to attention, Wilson let go of Carmichael, who then proceeded to sucker-punch Alex. While she reeled, Gibbs grabbed him by the collar and held him to the wall.

"Just because I got her to stop attacking you, does not mean that you can do that."

That was when Headmaster Seagram stepped in.

"Before you two report to my office go to the infirmary to have yourselves checked out".

Carmichael left first, holding his chest. He obviously had some broken ribs. Gibbs helped Alex get up. She might have a concussion from the sucker punch.

"Here, let's get you to the infirmary to have your head checked out".

"I can get there myself, Agent Gibbs, thank you very much"

She staggered towards the infirmary. But before she turned around the corner, she said something rather strange to Gibbs.

"You weren't there to save my mom, Where were you?" she asked angrily.

Gibbs was surprised by the change of subject. He then asked:

"Who's your mom?"

Alex didn't say anything. All she gave him was a glare that reminded him of someone who was dead. The glare was made worse by the fact that her eyes blazed like blue fire. She then turned around the corner to head to the infirmary. As the team left, Headmaster Seagram took Ducky aside and asked:

"The agent that restrained her, he's her father isn't he?"

"Yes Headmaster, he is"


	7. Math Mystery

Chapter VII: The Math of the Mystery of Great Lakes

Gibbs was thinking about what that kid had said to him. Who was the mother that he could have saved? Why was Ducky avoiding his eyes? And why did that kid's glare look so familiar? He knew that Ducky would have the answers. He went down to autopsy to talk to Ducky; he would get answers from his friend once and for all. Ducky, noticing that his friend was coming and said:

"Sorry Jethro, I'm leaving for home, maybe we can talk on Monday"

Not buying that he was leaving because he saw a body that was prepared for an Autopsy. He was getting suspicious.

"Ducky, you have a body out for an autopsy, you aren't leaving anytime soon. Why have you been avoiding me ever since we got back from that school?"

"I haven't been avoiding you, I've just been busy"

"Ducky, Palmer mentioned that you did nothing except sit at your desk, what is on your mind; does it have something to do with that kid at Hawker Hall?"

Ducky realized that the time was upon him to tell his friend a story, a story that was not yet over. Before he could ask his friend a question, Jethro beat him to the punch.

"Do you know who that kid's mother was?"

"Yes Jethro I did, but I can't tell you?"

"Why can't you tell me?"

"I really can't tell you Jethro"

Then Gibbs did something he did not ordinarily do. He grabbed Ducky by the collar and shoved him against the wall.

"Damn it Doctor Mallard, tell me!"

In the moments before the scuffle, Ducky had grabbed a scalpel. He then put it to Jethro's ear.

"I will tell you, but you have to promise to be civilized, let me go, and sit down."

Gibbs calmed down somewhat. He was still watching Ducky carefully. Doctor Mallard then decided to ask the question that he was going to ask his friend:

"Do you remember when you and the late Director Shepard returned from Europe, and how quickly she took that assignment in Waukegan?"

Gibbs gave Ducky a dark look. He knew from that look that his friend remembered that year all too well.

"Yeah, I remember it. I'd rather not think about it. Why?"

"Well there was a reason why she was so eager to get away, and it wasn't you."

"Well then what was the reason if it wasn't to get away from me?"

"Did you notice anything familiar about that girl, the one that was giving you grief?"

"Yeah, she reminded me of …, Ducky, her mother, the one that I supposedly could've saved; Jen was her mother wasn't she?"

"Yes Jethro she was, and since I can tell that you are doing the mental math, yes you are Alex's father".

Gibb's face paled. It was like he'd been punched in his gut. He was thinking about what he'd done and noticed about the girl that afternoon. He'd noticed her bright blue eyes that he'd only ever seen on himself and on a navy captain. The girl's red hair was almost identical to that of Jen's.

"Well she certainly has her mother's temper. Why didn't you tell me when Jen died, Ducky?"

"I wanted to Jethro, believe me, but in her will it said that neither of you were to be told, in the event that she was unable to tell you both, until Alex was 14. She was going to tell you both once Alex got out of school for the summer, but, fate it seemed had a different plan in mind."

His friend had a lot to absorb. He got up to leave.

"Ducky, thanks for finally telling me. I have tomorrow off, and I do not want to be disturbed, barring the request of the Director, or an international incident."

"What will you be doing Jethro?"

"I'll be working on my boat."

But working on his boat was the last thing he had on his mind. He wanted to have a drink, and his friend from the APV had just given him a gallon of moonshine. His friend had told him that it had been checked out, it was safe to drink.

Around 11:45PM that night…

He was lit like a Roman candle. He'd drunk a good portion of the moonshine, and was feeling…

_"You shouldn't be drinking that much Jethro."_

Gibbs looked up and said blearily:

"Who is that?"

_"I'm shocked Jethro, it hasn't been that long, don't you remember me?"_

"Whoever you are show yourself!"

A figure shimmered into his vision. The first thing he noticed was the red hair. The red hair that had driven him mad, then the green eyes that had driven him even more nuts. Then the rest of the vision came into being. It was the woman he could never stop thinking about: Jenny Shepard his ex girlfriend, ex boss, and the mother of his child that, until today, he had never knew existed.

_"Well what are you going to do, just stare at me or are you going to ask me questions?"_

"How do I know that you're not just a drunken hallucination that I'm having?"

_"In about five seconds, McGee will be calling you"_

Then the surprising happened. McGee did call.

"Hey boss, I wanted to ask…"

"Not now McGee, I have a visitor" and he hung up.

_"Now do you believe that I'm really here?"_

"Okay I believe that you're here. Now I have just one question for you: Why the HELL didn't you tell me about my daughter!"

_"I had my reasons. First and foremost among them was protecting our daughter from the people that we got angry, namely the Vor e Zakone in Russia. Imagine if they found out that we had a child, they'd use her as leverage to get to us. We really got them angry at us."_

Gibbs sat there and thought. Jen as usual, was able to reason him down. If those rotten Russian sons of bitches found out about Alex, they'd use her. As much as he would've loved to have known about her, he valued her safety more than anything.

"So what happens now, since I know about her?"

_"You have to protect her. The Russians are getting restive. They've gotten everyone from that trio killed, except for one. You're the only one that's left. They will try to get to you through her. You have to do everything in your power to keep her away from the Russians."_

"I love you Jen"

_"I love you too, Jethro"_


	8. Raid on Hawker Hall

Chapter VIII: Raid on Hawker Hall

Alex Shepard was suspended. She wasn't too surprised. After that fight with Joe Carmichael she knew that she was lucky to not have been expelled. She knew that Carmichael's uncle, a school trustee, had tried intimidating Headmaster Seagram into expelling her. But the Headmaster had stood strong. She would be suspended, but not expelled. In fact, it was Joseph Carmichael that was facing expulsion for the sucker punch. He had three broken ribs. She only had a concussion. She knew that she may have overdone it with Agent Gibbs in asking him why he wasn't there to save her mom. She had known for awhile that her mother and Agent Gibbs had been close, so why hadn't he been there to save her? She was just glad that she was able to go on this field trip. There was a caveat for her going on this trip: She had to stay with Sergeant Wilson the entire time. She didn't mind it. It really wasn't much of a punishment for her. While she was walking up some stairs she staggered a little. The concussion was gone, but she was still feeling the side effects. Sgt. Wilson noticed this, and said:

"You really should not be going on the field trip, if you're still feeling woozy."

"I'm fine Sgt. Wilson. I've been getting a little bit of cabin fever in the infirmary, and I'm glad that I'm going to be able to go".

They finally got to the gym where the group was assembling to leave. Some people were taking longer than others to get to the meeting area, so the leaving time was delayed. Little did everyone realize that this delay, caused by one of the school's trustees, would change everything. Then the sound of an explosion got everyone running for the exits. Sgt. Wilson was helping them. Once he got most of the people out, he remembered his charge. He saw Alex going hand to hand with a former Spetznatz commando. And she appeared to be winning. He then got distracted by another commando and had to fight him. In the course of the fight, Alex got in a lucky shot and killed the former commando. Once Wilson got finished with the guy that he was fighting, he went to check on Alex. When he got within 10 feet of her, three more commandoes got her and put a cloth over her mouth. As they dragged her away, they had cover fire. Sgt Wilson was unable to go after her.

"ALEX!"

Meanwhile at NCIS HQ…

He was still feeling the after affects of his hangover. That moonshine sure had been strong. He then got down to business. He would now file for custody of Alex. He would protect her, just as her mother wanted him to do. When he was getting the paperwork, started the phone rang. One of his worst nightmares had come to be.

_"Hello Agent Gibbs, it has been a long time", said the voice which had an obvious Russian accent._

Gibbs recognized the voice. It was Yuri Pashenko, a member of the Vor e Zakone, whose father he had killed.

"What do you want, Yuri?"

_"I have something of yours that you will want back"_

"There is nothing you have of mine that I could possibly want from you".

_"Not even your own daughter?"_

Gibbs froze. He hadn't known about Alex for a week and already she'd been captured by the people that her mother had wanted him to protect her from. He'd failed already as a father. McGee noticed that Gibb's face had turned ashen. He thought about asking his boss what the matter was, but decided to wait.

"If its money you want I have none. I'm a government agent and a former Marine. What I do have is a specific set of skills, skills that I've acquired over a very long career, skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my daughter go now, it will be the end of it. But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you."

_"I wouldn't expect anything less from you, Agent Gibbs. But you know we don't scare that easily"._

"Besides, the government won't exchange anything with you, just for one child".

_"Don't worry Agent Gibbs. We've kidnapped two other girls. Your government would not want to have three innocents killed. Do svidanya Gibbs"_

Gibbs put the phone down. He knew that he had to get Alex back alive. She was his second chance at being a father; he hadn't been able to protect Kelly, because he had been on the other side of the world from her. Alex was not that far away. He would do anything and everything to get Alex back. While he was thinking DiNozzo decided to open his mouth and say:

"Hey boss, wasn't that Liam Neeson's speech from Taken?"

McGee then smacked DiNozzo on the back of the head. This was something unusual.

"Now is not the time for your jokes Tony, this is serious".

Tony decided to say nothing. McGee's tone was stone cold serious. Gibbs then got up.

"I'm going to go and talk with Director Mackenzie"

Back at Hawker Hall…

The gym was a chaos zone. This had been a professional job. According to a Sgt. Wilson, they were obviously former Spetznatz commandoes. One of them was dead, and three others were wounded. Agent Tobias Fornell decided to start asking Sgt. Wilson more questions.

"Sergeant, did you kill that one Russian?"

"No sir I did not."

"Then who did Sergeant, one of the other adults?"

This made Sgt. Wilson laugh.

"The teachers were too worried about getting the kids out to fight them; it was the student that they'd kidnapped".

Fornell was in one of his rare moments of shock. A kid had done that to a former Spetznatz commando?

"How old is this kid Sgt. Wilson, whoever he is?"

This also made Sgt. Wilson laugh. Getting tired of this, Fornell asked:

"What on Earth is so funny Sgt. Wilson?"

"She is only 10 years old Agent Fornell, and she was foot shorter and about a 150 lbs. lighter".

That really impressed Fornell. A ten year old girl killed a Spetznatz commando?

"What's this kid's name?"

"Alexandra Shepard"

That also got his attention. Director Shepard's "cousin" had killed the commando. Fornell then said:

"The apple does not fall very far from the tree"

"Sir?"

Fornell then decided to fill the guy in.

"Alexandra Shepard was not Director Shepard's cousin. She was her daughter by another agent."

"Wow, who is her father?"

Then a new FBI agent came into the room. It was Special Agent Booth.

"Hey Fornell we got a hit on who organized the kidnap, a Major Jose Batista, he used to work in Cuban Intelligence until he came under suspicion of sneaking nuns and priests out of the country"

He then noticed who Fornell was talking to.

"Moony, is that you?"

"Joe it's good to see you again!"

The two men shook hands. Fornell then asked:

"Sgt. Wilson you served with Booth?"

"Yes sir I did. We were both snipers"

"We need to call her guardian, Sgt. Wilson. Who is it?"

"A Doctor Mallard sir. I'll go get his number"

Back at NCIS Headquarters…

Gibbs hurried up to the Director's office. This was not how he imagined her first full week as Director to start. Cynthia was still the Director's secretary. She noticed the look on Gibb's face; it was a combination of worry and anger. Gibbs then asked her:

"Is the Director free, Cynthia?"

"Um, not really Agent Gibbs, she has two visitors with her at the moment. You could wait for five minutes."

"I'm sorry Cynthia, but this is important".

He barged in. He promptly regretted doing so. Her two visitors were her husband and her son, who'd gotten his father's blue eyes. All three of them looked up at Gibbs. Gibbs then decided to retreat.

"I'm sorry Director, I'll leave."

"It's alright Agent Gibbs, my family was just leaving. Harm, will you take Andrew and leave?"

"Sure Sarah. Andrew this is Agent Gibbs. He's a Marine like your mother was."

"Didn't he arrest you Dad?"

Gibbs smirked at the Captain's discomfort. The kid may only have been four, but he was every bit as sharp as his parents.

"Hehe. Yes he did, but I was innocent"

He then walked his son out. He looked at the Director.

"He has his father's eyes"

"He also got his love of airplanes from him. What was important enough for you to interrerupt?"

Gibbs then decided to get to the point.

"Director, you are aware that one of your predecessors and I were rather close?"

"Everybody knew that agent Gibbs. It was one of the worst kept secrets in Washington that you and Director Shepard had been in a sexual relationship"

Gibbs's face flushed a bit. Then he got back on topic.

"Well when we got back, we'd already broken up. I stayed in Washington; she went to Great Lakes in Chicago. I didn't know that she was pregnant with my daughter, Alex."

"Yes I've heard of Alex. I thought that they were cousins."

"That was the story that they told for public consumption".

"When Jen died, Ducky got guardianship over her. He could not tell me or Alex about the real relationship between the two of us, until Alex turned fourteen. But there was a caveat that if one of us came close to figuring it out, or Alex came into danger because of the familial connection. When we went to Hawker Hall for the high schooler's career day, she was able to visit because she'd gotten permission from her homeroom teacher. Needless to say, she asked some rather pointed questions that got her kicked out of the room. This also led to a fight with an older student, a Joseph Carmichael. He'd called her a bastard to her face among other things. Once everything calmed down, he managed to get a sucker punch in on her. They were both sent to sick bay before the headmaster would deal with them both. I helped her up and offered to help her to sick bay. She said thanks but no thanks. But then she asked me a question: "You weren't there to save my mom, where were you?" Later on Friday, I managed to corner Ducky and asked him what he knew about her mother. After some persuading, he told me who her mother was and that I was her father. I went home that night, and vowed to protect her from any kind of danger. I failed because this morning, she was kidnapped by the Russian Mob."

The Director was silent for a few moments. She was surprised that Director Shepard would not want to tell Gibbs about their child. She then got up and told him:

"The FBI just called. Two FBI agents, Fornell and Booth I believe their names were, said that they'd investigated the site, and they are willing to share jurisdiction with NCIS, as the incident happened on US Navy grounds."

"Director, I am going to go and rescue my daughter. I was unable to save my first daughter, and I am not letting this one go away. I am aware that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one, but…"

Director Mackenzie cut him off. She began using her best parade ground tone:

"Agent Gibbs I am aware that in addition to your daughter, two other girls were kidnapped. The kidnappers have crossed state lines, so this is a federal matter. The government wants to get ALL of the children home safe and sound. You will do your daughter no good if you go and get yourself killed. The FBI, NCIS, and maybe even the CIA will be working to get these children back, and get these Russian mobsters behind bars. Do I make myself clear, Agent Gibbs?"

This got Gibbs's attention. His stripes were burning on his arm again, so out of reflex he said:

"Yes mam'm, Colonel Mam'm!"

Gibbs then realized that he'd called her by her old rank. He was about to apologize when she said:

"You get to make that mistake once Agent Gibbs, now let's get to work at getting your daughter back."


	9. The Hideout Trail

Chapter IX: The Hideout Trail

Alex was getting scared now. She'd been knocked out with ether, so the last thing that she remembered was Sgt. Wilson yelling her name. She was in a truck. She did a quick scan of herself. Her hands were bound with rope. Her feet however were free. She smiled to herself at that. She'd be able to defend herself, if the need arose. She felt the truck stop, she prepared to lash out. Once the door opened, and as she was dragged out, she started kicking. She landed several blows before she was restrained. Once her feet were also tied up, she heard a voice with an obvious Spanish accent that reminded her of Antonio Banderas.

"I told you guys to bind both her hands and her feet; she's on the judo team at her school".

She tried to get a look at the man with a Spanish accent. But before she could get a good look at him, her Russian captors shoved her into a meeting room.

"You stay here and wait blue eyed she devil", said one of the men.

Alex waited for about 45 minutes. Then the door opened. A tall man with dark brown hair and eyes came in. He proceeded to introduce himself.

"I am Yuri Pashenko; I am in the Vor e Zakone, better known to you as the Russian mob"

Alex kept her face expressionless. She had learned to hide her emotions over the past few years since her mother was murdered.

"Do you know why you are here little one?"

"No I have absolutely no idea why I'm here. Why did you kidnap me? There are much more valuable kids at my school than me."

"You were not kidnapped for a ransom. You were kidnapped because of whom your parents are. You do know who your parents don't you, little one?"

"I don't know who they are", said Alex trying to be cagy.

This earned her a slap across the face. Her cheek stung, but she'd been hit harder in judo practice. The Russian man who called himself Yuri composed himself, and asked her again:

"You will only get this question one last time: Do you know who your parents are?"

"I know that my mom was Director Jennifer Shepard of NCIS, but I never met my father, I was going to meet him, but then you guys murdered my mom!"

Smirking, the man named Yuri said:

"You have no idea as to the identity of your father, do you have any suspicions?"

"I have a few but Ducky won't tell me who he is".

"Do you want to know the identity of your father?"

Alex thought hard. She noticed that the Russian bastard was surprised that she hadn't agreed immediately. She knew there was a reason why he was offering to tell her who her father was. She decided to take the chance.

"I would love to know who my father is"

Yuri smiled evilly. He could not wait to see the look on her face when she saw who her father was. He barked a command in Russian:

"Bring me her father's file"

Alex kept her face blank. Hiding the fact that she could speak Russian from these mobsters was probably a good thing. Then a man came in with a file an inch thick. She then wondered: Who on Earth could my father be to these men? Yuri then slid the file across the table to her and said:

"Look and you shall see who your father is."

Alex opened the front of the file. What she saw shocked her to the core. The man whose picture was at the front of the file was Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs of NCIS. She forgot to keep her poker face, and started looking at his face to see whether there was a family resemblance. The blue eyes were an obvious connection, along with the shape of her ears. It showed him with dark brown hair with only the barest traces of gray. Now she knew why her hair, while still being the same as her mother's, got so much darker in the winter, her father's hair had been dark.

Yuri watched this and said:

"So now you know why you were kidnapped, little one. Your parents killed several top members in my organization, and got away with it for awhile. Then we killed your mother. Knowing that killing Gibbs was not what we wanted, we started trying to find ways to make him suffer. We found you. A child is the best kind of leverage. Especially a child that he does not know about. Your father lost his first daughter. We know that he will do anything to get you back."

Alex's face was hard to describe. She began to think to herself: That explains a lot.

"My father is going to enjoy killing you" she said to Yuri.

"And when he does, he will avenge the murder of my mother!" she said confidently.

Yuri smiled even more evilly.

"We shall see about that. Take her to her cell where she can meet her cellmates".

Alex did not go easily. It again took three former commandoes to escort her bodily from the room. Yuri smiled to himself: His father's death would soon be avenged. The former Major Jose Batista walked in. The look on his face was not good.

"You told me that you were kidnapping her just to get that man called Kestrel back. You never told me that you were going to use her as a way to torture her father…"

Yuri cut him off by saying:

"You were hired for your skill at planning kidnaps without any unnecessary wetworks. You were not hired for your opinions."

Jose Batista then replied:

"All three of those girls are innocents. I've heard what you guys say about the Nazis and how they did horrible things to Russian children in order to get what they wanted. You are doing the exact same thing. Using children to get what you want. It is not different"

Yuri sat for a moment. He then swung a John Wayne punch at Batista which he blocked. Yuri then said:

"You are only around to get the job done, and once this is all done, I will kill you".

"You can try"

Alex met her two new roommates. They were obviously older than she was. One was blond and the other was a brunette. The blond gave her a dirty look.

"So you're the reason why I'm here", said the blond.

Alex quickly got on the warpath.

"It's not my fault that they picked you. Besides, you were picked for a rather obvious reason", Alex said nastily.

On the other side of the glass, two of the former commandoes and Yuri watched the byplay. Yuri smirked as the redhead and the blond yell at each other. He then said:

"If she has her mother's temper, she'll kill the blond"

Batista had also entered. He'd also listened to the verbal fight. He was of a different opinion. He then said:

"If she has her father's self control, she won't kill the blond"


	10. The Tall Man

Chapter X: The Tall Man

Captain Harmon Rabb was for once, speechless. He'd finally put the pieces of a puzzle together that he had been pondering for about 6 months. Agent Gibbs had a kid. And a fiery one at that. He remembered a time when he saw Alex Shepard. It was at her school, he was visiting a friend, Bill Wallace. Bill was the judo coach, and there was the qualifying tournament for places on the team.

About 6 months earlier…

He'd decided to visit his old friend Bill Wallace. His friend was at Hawker Hall as the Judo team's coach. His friend had said for him to come and visit, it was a long time since they'd actually talked to each other while in the same room. His friend had also mentioned that the school wide tryouts for the judo team were in the last day. He'd saved the best for last. A nine year old girl was going up against a fourteen year old boy who was a lot taller and stronger than she was. But what would make this a good match was that the girl was incredibly agile. He followed the noises of people punching each other to the gym. He noticed his friend, he was watching the second to last match for the spaces on the team. It had just finished up.

"Hey Bill, how's going?"

"Not too bad… Captain?" "Congratulations sir"

"Bill we've been friends a long time, you don't have to call me that."

"I remember a time when you were worried whether you'd make Lieutenant Commander; I call you by your rank because I can."

"Some things never change, do they Bill?"

Bill noticing the ring on his left hand, smirked and said,

"Apparently some things do"

The last match had started. Rabb took in the two contestants. The boy was in his early teens. He would have the obvious advantage of height and reach. The girl looked like she was barely ten. Her advantage would be agility. He couldn't think what her other advantages might be. He decided to ask his friend.

"Hey Bill, isn't the girl a little young for the judo team?"

Bill Wallace sighed. His friend did not know the girl's life story. It was full of sadness and pain.

"Under normal circumstances, yes she is a little young, but I'm letting her try out as a favor to my friend Sgt. Wilson, who is worried about her".

"What's her story?"

"Well the real pain started almost three years ago when her guardian was murdered. Alexandra, fell apart. She and her guardian were really close. She has been kicked off every other school team for excessive roughness. She's got a lot of rage bottled up inside of her. That kid, with whom she's competing for the last spot on the team, is a jerk and has opened up himself for a world of hurt. Ah, I believe that the match is almost over".

They watched the last two minutes of the match. She'd dodged his punches and in doing so, tired him out. She was now on the offensive, landing punches so quickly, they could not be blocked. Then she gave him a final punch. This knocked the kid on his ass. She turned around to look at everyone. She looked especially at Wilson, her look saying, "Thank you". Then the boy tried a very dirty trick on her, to knock her feet out from under her and on her head. She jumped up in the air and brought her feet crashing into the boy's chest. There was a very loud crunch that made everybody wince. She then said for all to hear,

"You were desperate. You tried a dirty trick. You will never do that again"

The medical staff hurried out to care for him. She walked towards Wallace and asked,

"How many ribs do you think I broke in that jerk's chest?"

"That is not something to be proud about Miss Shepard, but I won't deny that he deserved it. What you can be proud of is that you've made the team".

The kid then smiled, like she hadn't smiled in years. She went to the locker rooms to clean up.

A few hours later Rabb noticed that Bill was putting a picture in an album. Noticing his friends asking stare he explained.

"I like to have pictures of the kids on my team with their parents or their guardian, this is the only good one of Alex, but this is with her previous guardian that was supposedly her cousin."

"What makes you question that Bill?"

"Take a look at the picture and you'll see why."

Rabb then looked at the picture. He was stunned. The family resemblance between the two was strong.

"What do you think is the real family relationship is?"

"Judging by looks, her guardian is either a twin sister to the mother or is the mother herself. I'd go with her being the mother herself".

Rabb then looked at the names on the back of the picture. Again he was in for a shock.

"Whoa, Director Shepard was her mother?"

"Director of what; old friend?"

"Of NCIS; she was the Director before the current one. She was murdered by the Russian mob. Who's her father?"

"Your guess is as good as anybody's. Alex doesn't know. Though those blue eyes of hers…" he started as a way to rib his friend.

"Her eyes are slightly darker than mine, and they are also different in a sense that is inexplicable"

"Maybe it's the loss she's been through at such a young age"

Back to now…

"Agent Gibbs with a kid; that explains a lot" was his last thought on the matter for the day. In the Navy Yard, someone else also began thinking about the situation with Gibbs and his newfound child. But unlike her husband, she knew the story about his first family. She'd known for several years that his first family had been killed in a car crash, while he was in Desert Storm. It had something to do with his wife witnessing a murder committed by a drug lord, she identified him, and he came after them. He shot their NCIS agent that was protecting them. Gibb's wife and child died in the ensuing crash. She knew that Gibbs would go above and beyond to get his daughter back. She just didn't want him to die in the attempt. This kid had lost enough in her life. She would also do her best to keep that from happening again. She imagined if she were in a situation that Gibbs was in, she would also do the same thing. She knew that her husband would also do the same thing. When you have a kid, you know that you would move Heaven and Earth, and maybe in some cases even Hell to keep your child safe.


	11. Parents and Terrorists

Chapter XI: What's the Difference between a Parent and a Terrorist?

Gibbs was getting visibly agitated. No one was brave enough to go near him. He knew that the Russians would want something, but as of right now, they had not yet called. Gibbs was losing patience while the Director went through the official channels. He could tell that even she was getting angry. That was the Marine in her. He smirked. Having a Marine as a Director was going be something. He got a phone call from Cynthia.

"The Director wishes to speak with you".

Gibbs rushed up to her office. He went inside. Judging from the look on her face, the news wasn't good.

"These Russians are very good. They've left almost no tracks to follow"

Gibb's ears perked up, "Almost?" he asked hopefully. The Director did not miss this. She smiled back at him.

"We know that they are still in the country. They'll make a ransom call soon."

Cynthia walked in.

"Agent Gibbs there is a phone call for you. They have a Russian accent."

Gibbs looked up.

"May I take this call from in here Director?"

"Of course"

Gibbs silently waited for the line to come through. As he heard Yuri start to talk, he could practically hear the smirk on the other line. He put it on speaker phone so that the Director could hear what was going on.

_"Hello Agent Gibbs, how are you doing?"_

"About as well as can be expected, you diseased rat"

_"I would not be calling me that, since I have possession of your daughter"_

Gibbs stood there stonily for a moment before talking again.

"What do you want from me?"

_"My organization and I want Kestrel, a plant that we put in your government, released and brought to us, alive, and then we will release your daughter and the other girls"._

"I have no control over him, he's under CIA jurisdiction"

_"I am sure your lovely lady Director can arrange with the CIA for a transfer. She wouldn't want to have her tenure as Director to start with innocent blood being shed"_

The Russians proceeded to make some rather rude comments about the Director. Most of them were of a common nature. She smirked and then started to talk to them in Russian.

"Excuse gentlemen, I am married, and my husband is not as limber as you are making him sound".

The Russians stopped talking. Yuri came back on the line.

_"You never told us that there was someone else in the room with you, Agent Gibbs"_

"You didn't ask, Yuri"

_"We want Kestrel within the week. If he's not delivered by next Wednesday, you can kiss your second chance at having a family goodbye"_

Gibbs left the room. Then Yuri said something to Director.

_"I guess that concludes negotiations, Director"_

She remembered a line from a movie, and decided to bastardize it.

"Yuri, have you ever heard the question, what's the difference between a parent and a terrorist?"

_"I have never heard of such a question. What is the difference?"_

"The difference between a parent and a terrorist is that you can negotiate with a terrorist." She then hung up the phone.

Yuri was in a good mood. He knew that through some manner, Gibbs would get Kestrel to him, and in turn get his daughter back.

The representative from the CIA had just arrived. Special Agent Clayton Webb walked into the main area. He noticed Agent Gibbs. The look in Gibb's eyes was creepy. It was as if Gibbs were measuring him up for the body bag. He went to the director's office, expecting Director Vance's replacement. He noticed a certain former Marine Lt. Colonel in the secretary's chair at the desk. He thought that she was the secretary to the replacement. Thinking this, he asked her:

"Where is the new director?"

"Waiting in the office", she said deciding to set Webb up for a joke, since it was Gibbs waiting in the office, not her.

Webb walked in and noticed Gibbs sitting at the desk waiting for him.

"Gibbs, you're the new Director?" he asked with shock, how did he move so quickly from the bullpen to the Director's office?

Gibbs, smiling evilly, shook his head.

"No Agent Webb, I am not, nor will I ever be Director of NCIS"

"Then who is the Director?"

"She was sitting outside the office, Webb"

Webb's face turned white. He'd just been set up by the new NCIS director and Gibbs. Director Mackenzie walked in. "Why don't we head downstairs to one of the interrogation rooms". Gibbs grinned like a Cheshire cat. He would finally be able to give Webb a piece of his mind.

"Absolutely not, the CIA will not turn over Kestrel just so three kids can go home" said Webb irritably.

This had been going on for about three hours. They were getting nowhere. Both Marines were getting visibly irritated.

"You do know that we won't really be turning him over, we will just be tricking those Russian mobsters into thinking that we are turning him over, and besides, when this succeeds, you'll have even more of his cronies to get information out of"

"Still, the chance that the op will go south is too great for any kind of gain, now if you'll excuse me, I'll be lea…"

Webb stopped talking as an angry Gibbs yanked him up from his chair and shoved him up against the wall. Webb looked at the Director for help. She was not going to give it to him.

"Have you ever had a family taken away from you in a violent manner, and you were not there to protect them? Did you find out that you actually do have a family, but it's in danger? This family I can protect, I'm not on the other side of the world from her, and I can get her back safe and sound. You have what they want in exchange for my daughter and her fellow captives. I will not let the CIA stand in the way of getting her back. If I have to kill you to get to Kestrel, it will be no trouble!"

"Agent Gibbs, stand down. I will talk with Webb alone"

Gibbs shot Webb a look of intense anger. But he did obey the Director's orders. He left the room with a slam. Webb composed himself and sat down.

"Good. I'm glad that you've seen reason Director"

Director Mackenzie turned around sharply. He then knew that he would be shown no mercy.

"Reasonable? I have no motive for being reasonable. I was Lt. Colonel in the USMC, a former JAG lawyer, the director of an armed federal agency, and most importantly a mother. If Kestrel is not turned over to us, you will be found on NCIS's autopsy table, and cause of death will be listed as a suicide. Then I believe that a replacement for you will come to us, and be much more understanding to our rhetoric. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes Director, I will talk with my superiors, and Kestrel will be delivered to NCIS HQ in45 minutes".

"Make it 30 minutes"

McGee, Ziva, and Tony were behind the one way glass. They were all barely keeping their faces straight. Webb's face was ashen as he called his bosses and told them the terms of the negotiations. Ziva then said,

"I would not want to be that man when he arrives at his office, and tells his superiors that he was handed his ass by two retired Marines". Tony smirked in agreement. McGee then said:

"The Marines have arrived and have the situation well in hand"


	12. Liquid Courage, Russian Style

Chapter XII: Liquid Courage, Russian Style

Major Batista was disgusted with the Russians. He didn't like them very much. He only worked with them so that he could pay the bills. These girls that he'd helped kidnap, were innocent of any kind of wrongdoing. He had a suspicion that the reason the Kurds wanted to kidnap the blond was for the sake of their Muslim obsession with blonds; among other reasons. He was always drawn to watching the redhead. She was the reason for the operation. The people that he was working for had a score to settle with her father. They always talked in Russian around the three girls. While the brunette and the blond were always confused when they were being spoken to in Russian, the redhead did not seem to be as confused, but pretended she was every bit as confused as the two other girls. He was willing to bet the bank that the redhead could speak as well as understand Russian. He went into the room in which they were keeping the girls to ask her a question:

"Hablas Rus, Senorita Shepard?"

She looked up at him with shock on her face. Her secret might be blown. She knew that Major Batista was smarter than most of the other Russians. He was watching her for the answer.

"Si, hablo Rus, mayor Batista"

Batista smirked to himself. He would not reveal to the Russians that one of the girls could speak and understand Russian. Especially since it was the girl that was the whole reason for the operation. He left the girls alone, as it was getting late. Elena Ramirez, the brunette that had been kidnapped was twelve years old and was also curious about what Alex's parents had done to get the Russian mob mad at them. She decided to ask:

"Hey Alex, what did your parents do to get these people mad at them?"

Alex looked up. She'd spoken in Spanish to her. It had been an unspoken agreement, that if they wanted to talk to each other, they would do so in Spanish. She decided to answer her question.

"My parents were US government agents. They got these men angry at them because they put fifteen members of their leadership in prison or in the ground. They killed my mom as a punishment for this. This was an unintentional kindness they did for her, since she was dying of muscular dystrophy. I was going to find out who my father was but they killed her before she could tell me. All I can say about my father as of right now, is that I got my eyes from him, and that may God have mercy on these bastards, for my father will not!"

Elena sat there in amazement. This girl was being used as leverage on her father, whom she had never met.

"Have you ever met your father?"

"Yes I have, but not as my father."

Then their third cellmate Arianna Pryce walked in from the showers. The two other girls stopped talking. Neither of them liked Arianna very much, and the feeling of mutual dislike was reciprocated. She thought that because she was blond, everyone around her should act like her servants. She certainly got attention from their captors. She was sixteen years old and easy on the eyes.

"What are you two talking about?"

Alex smirked evilly. She and Arianna especially did not get along. She decided to be very nasty.

"We were just discussing the trash that needs to be taken out."

Arianna smiled nastily back. However whatever was about to be said was interrupted by the Kurds. They'd decided to not resist their urges any longer. They would make known their reason for kidnapping the blond. The other two girls would just be forced to watch or get beaten up. The brunette would be forced to watch as her cellmates were either assaulted or beaten. The redhead would be beaten as a punishment for killing one of their comrades in arms. They were also supplemented with liquid courage, better known to the rest of the world as vodka. About ten minutes into their "party" they were interrupted by Major Batista. He was red with anger. He pushed the men away from their victims.

"You men are disgusting, beating up a child and sexually assaulting another. They are defenseless"

The leader of the Kurds stood up hazily and walked over to Batista.

"They are spoils of war. We can do with them as we please."

"They are children, innocents. Didn't you hear that lesson when you learned your Islam?"

"When they kill someone, they lose their innocence. They deserve to be punished".

"When the kill is made in self defense, they keep their innocence. Now leave these girls alone. If you don't I will kill you."

"Yuri would have your head if you did that" said the Kurd leader.

Batista replied calmly:

"No he would not. He wants these girls alive and unharmed in any manner. And I don't think that he'd be too broken up by your gentlemen's demise, especially after he finds out that you were drinking while on duty"

The Kurds then decided that their "fun" would have to wait. They gave Batista a dirty look and filed out.

Batista then checked out Alex for injuries. She didn't have any broken bones, but she would have bruises for a very long time. He then asked her in Spanish:

"Are you alright"

"I've been better. I have been hit harder in judo practice, Major"

He then turned to Elena. He asked her the same question as he had Alex, also in Spanish.

"Are you alright?"

"I've seen worse on TV" replied Elena, though she didn't believe it.

Lastly he checked the blond for injuries. There were none, in spite of what had happened to her. Since she could not speak Spanish, he used his charm to make sure that she was alright. As he left he made a decision. He would help these girls escape, even if it meant him getting killed.


	13. Tale of Two Plans

Chapter XIII: A Tale of Two Plans

The plan was finally in the end stages. Gibbs was pacing liked a caged tiger. Ducky, noticing this said:

"Jethro, why don't you sit down?"

Gibbs gave Ducky a look that could've melted titanium. He was in a foul mood. He wanted to rescue his daughter now, before any harm could come to her. He continued to pace like a caged tiger. It took a Marine to get his attention.

"Agent Gibbs, sit down before you fall down."

Gibbs looked at the Director. She was using her Marine officer voice, which was not easily ignored.

"Yes ma'm"

Gibbs finally sat down. He still looked like a caged tiger, but not as obviously so. McGee started talking.

"Okay, we've got a GPS fix of the phone calls that Gibbs has been getting. It's a remote area of Virginia, kind of hilly, and is 50 miles from any major town. It's to a bunker complex that goes deep underground. We are assuming that they'll bring at least one of the girls up with them, probably Alex herself since she's the whole reason for this situation. With our two snipers, Booth and Wilson, who will provide sniping skills to the field, will provide part of the cover fire. Boss, you'll be driving the car as we've been instructed with Kestrel. But not alone as they said. I will be riding in the back seat. You will be armed, but not right away. I will be armed with the SIG…" Gibbs then interrupted.

"What good are SIGs when they've got machine guns? They could cut us down without blinking an eye!"

"GUNNY, SHUT UP!" barked Director Mackenzie.

McGee just smiled and said,

"Boss, you interrupted me before I could mention that the FBI and Special Forces will also be helping us. Ducky will be there for the aftermath.

Meanwhile at the Hoover building…

Special Agent in Charge Tobias Fornell was getting ready for a rescue op. It was to rescue three girls from the Russian mob. One of them, surprisingly enough was Gibb's daughter. He smirked to himself and said:

"May God have mercy on those Russians, because Gibbs will not!"

On a lower level of the Hoover building, Agent Grayson sighed. He was nearing retirement. He hadn't gotten anything interesting in years. That was about to change. He noticed that there was a code being used to contact the FBI. It was an old code. He wrote it down and deciphered it.

"My God, I haven't seen this code since 1962… it must be a Cuban!"

He started to read the message:

Three girls kidnapped. One of them is Alex Shepard. We are in a bunker in a remote area of Virginia. This was no random snatch and grab. The Russian mob kidnapped her on the orders of a former Lieutenant Commander Walker. Come quickly.

Grayson hurried over to Fornell. He gave him the message.

"You're sure about this, Grayson?"

"Positive"

"Good. I have to get this over to NCIS".

Agent Booth had just walked in.

"What's the ruckus?"

"Bring an M-21 from the armory. You and Wilson are going to show just how good Army snipers can be"

"Yes Sir"

Way out in rural Virginia…

Batista had been working all day on the escape plan. It involved tampering with the video cameras in the girl's cells, using Alex's judo skills, and using a rope bridge across a narrow but deep gorge. He hoped that none of the girls were scared of heights. The girls were aware of his plan. He was the one that was in charge of keeping an eye on their cells

"Alexandra, it is almost time."

Alex looked up. She looked ready for bear.

"Thank you for everything Major, I am in your debt."

"You are not in my debt, rather I am in yours. You gave me the courage to stand up to the Russians."

"Shall we get started Major?"

"Yes we shall."

Driving towards the bunker…

"The relationship must have ended really badly for her not to tell you about your daughter, how badly did it end?"

Gibb's fingers tightened on the steering wheel to the point of his knuckles turning white. Kestrel had been needling him since they'd started the drive to the bunker where his daughter was being kept. He'd been needled about everything from his intelligence to his competence as a father. He was beginning to lose his patience, even though Kestrel was supposed to arrive alive. And if Kestrel wasn't delivered alive, he would be burying another daughter. McGee was also visibly losing his patience with Kestrel. He put a knife to Kestrel's ear and said,

"You are not only irritating my boss, you are irritating me. You are going to be delivered alive. Your friends did not specify what condition you were to be in. If you do not shut up, you will find yourself doing a Van Gogh impression, because you will only have one ear, as I will be cutting one of them off!"

That shut Kestrel up. He knew that Gibbs wouldn't do anything to jeopardize his daughter's life. But the look in McGee's eyes was not something to mess with. He figured that the swap would go relatively easily. What he didn't realize, was that it would be far from easy.

Back to the bunker…

Batista was getting ready to tamper with the cameras in the cells of the three girls. He would start with the blonds, as she would raise the least amount of suspicion. Unfortunately, Yuri walked in.

"This is almost over, we will have Kestrel back, and then we will kill the girls, starting with the redhead"

Batista was not surprised that Yuri would try to double cross the US government. He obviously hated Gibbs that much. It was galling that he had to work this man. He didn't want to let this happen.

"Yuri, I cannot let you do that. The girls are innocents."

Yuri then smiled evilly.

"You are not going to stop me. And you will kill the redhead, since you are so attached to her".

Just as Batista was about to argue, one of the Kurds came in. He whispered to Yuri,

"The car from the US government has arrived".

Yuri grinned. He would kill the redhead himself in front of both her father and Batista.

"Bring the girls out. They need to have a semblance of hope."

Gibbs was getting edgy. He wanted to see his daughter alive and unhurt. Kestrel was for once, keeping quiet. He then noticed Yuri walking out with three girls, whose hands were bound. He watched for Alex. She would stand out because she'd inherited her mother's red hair. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the last girl. It was his daughter. Seeing this, he got out of the car, went to the other side, and yanked Kestrel out of the car none too gently.

"Time for you to go home, Russian fleabag", he said talking to Kestrel.

The two groups walked towards each other. They stopped about 100 yards from the other group. Yuri smiled at Gibbs. Gibbs only gave him his patented death glare.

"So we meet again Agent Gibbs. You have what I want, and I have what you want most". As he said, one of the mercs dragged Alex from the back of the line, gave her to Yuri, who put a knife to her throat. She betrayed no sign of fear to the Russians. Gibbs could tell that she was scared out of her mind. She was just like her mother.

"As soon as you let Kestrel walk towards us, we will let the girls go"

Gibbs shoved Kestrel into walking. The three girls also started to walk. Then all Hell broke loose. Yuri barked to the Kurds,

"Kill the girls"

Right after he said that, Yuri felt something tear into his ass. They were bullets. It was Batista.

"That is what you get for trying to kill innocents"

Batista then had to fight his way away from Yuri and his men. He distracted the Kurds from the girls, so that they might have a chance to escape unscathed. He knew that he would probably die, but it was worth it.

Alexandra, Elena, and Arianna made for the rope bridge that Batista had made over the course of the last few days. As they caught their breath, they decided who would go over the bridge first.

"Arianna will go first, then Elena, and once you two are safely across I follow"

Arianna had no objection to this. She ran straight across the bridge. Elena had objections however.

"This whole operation is intended to rescue you, go before me."

Alex shook her head.

"No I will go over once I know you are safe."

Elena ran across the bridge. As she got to the other side, the bridge collapsed. Elena then yelled across the bridge,

"What are you going to do now, Alex?"

Alex was thinking for a moment. There was only one option. She would have to jump across the chasm. Elena noticed the gleam in her eye. She was going to jump across.

"ALEX, NO!"

Alex jumped across the chasm after a running jump. She almost made it unscathed. As she landed on the other side, her right leg was too low. Her leg collided with the side of the cliff, breaking her leg. As Alex landed, she screamed in pain. Elena dragged her to a tree. She tried to keep her new friend from moving too much, since she could tell that her leg was broken.

Wilson and Booth were enjoying themselves in their fashion. They were getting to show off to a Marine sniper as to how good Army snipers could be. They were also keeping an eye on the girls. When they noticed the rope bridge collapse, they winced knowing that one of the girls was still on the offending side of the bridge. Wilson checked through his scope to see who it was. It was Alex.

"Hey, Joe you might want to warn Doctor Mallard that he might have someone with a broken leg soon."

"Why Mike?"

"Because Alex Shepard is going to jump across the chasm"

They both watched in horror as Alex jumped across. She made it to the other side, but not without breaking her right leg. They saw her scream in pain, but was dragged off by one of the other girls.

"Contact Gibbs. He needs to get to his daughter NOW."

Gibbs watched the fracas; also taking part in bringing down the Russian bastards. He was more worried about his daughter than the Russians. He wanted to kill Yuri himself, but would be satisfied if he was just killed. While he was thinking, he got call on the line for the radio. It was Booth.

"Hey Gibbs, you might want to head to your daughter, she broke her leg"

Gibbs, after receiving directions from Booth, broke off at a dead run. He had been tired; but realizing that his daughter was hurt gave him new energy. As he got to the spot where the girls were hiding, he heard soft cries of pain. He saw Alex. He ran to her, and hugged her. This moved her leg, which caused her a lot of pain.

"I'm here Alex; I'm going to bring you to some help".

Before she passed out from the pain in her leg, she smiled her thanks. Gibbs noticing this motioned to the other two girls to follow him, so that they could be checked out for injuries. They did not seem to have any obvious injuries.

Batista was bleeding all over. He'd manage to evade most of Yuri's men, but not before they got some shots into him. Then he noticed two snipers walking towards him. The taller of the two spoke first.

"I'm Special Agent Booth of the FBI. Are you Major Jose Batista?"

"No one has called me that in a long time, but yes I am."

"You earned being called by your rank Major, by helping us save the girls."

"Are they all right?"

Booth and Wilson looked at each other. They did not answer that right away. Noticing this, Batista asked again,

"Are the girls all right?"

"The redhead broke her leg jumping across the chasm after the rope bridge broke. But other than that, they are all fine. You need medical attention Major, let us take you to the hospital".

Before Batista would let them do this, he asked,

"Did the FBI get my coded message?"

"Yes we did. You got attention using that old code. The information is being looked into as we speak", said Booth.

Batista finally let them carry him to the ambulance. He'd saved the girls.

His plan was going down in flames. The girls had escaped, Kestrel had been recaptured, and he'd been shot by that Cuban. Yuri Pashenko was trying to salvage whatever was left of his plan. He then heard walking through the woods. He fell down, hoping that he hadn't been noticed. He had been noticed. And the worst person to find him was there; it was Gibbs. He could tell that Gibbs really wanted to kill him. His SIG was cocked and his finger was on the trigger. But his hand was shaking. Then another agent walked up. He obviously knew Gibbs, because he put his hand on his shoulder, and shook his head at Gibbs saying,

"Don't waste the bullets Jethro"

Gibb's hand stopped shaking. Instead of shooting him in the head, he kneecapped Yuri.

"You are getting off easy, you Russian rat. Enjoy Hell when you get there. This is part of what you get for killing Director Shepard and for kidnapping my daughter. You will get the rest of it when you die."

Fornell gave Gibbs a look.

"I had to shoot him somewhere, Tobias. Killing him would have been letting him off easy. Now he has to live knowing that he failed."

Leaving Fornell with a cuffed Yuri, Gibbs went to the ambulance. He had to go with his daughter to Bethesda. He would also find out who sold her out to the Russians.


	14. Another Name for Treason

Chapter XIV: Another Name for Treason

Alex Shepard was slowly waking up from the sedative that the doctors had given her at Bethesda. She remembered little from the past few days. One of the last things she remembered before blacking out was seeing her dad and him telling her that she was going to be alright. She didn't know how long she'd been out cold, but she could tell that she'd been out long enough for her leg to be set in a cast. She also unfortunately had an itch on her leg. When she started to move around, the nurses at the station noticed this, and contacted the doctor. After about three minutes, the doctor walked in. He gave her a patented grin.

"It's good that you are finally awake Miss Shepard, we were beginning to worry about you. You have a severe leg break; you'll be in a cast for about four months, in a boot for an additional month and a half, and physical therapy for six months after that. You are a lucky girl. Jumping across that chasm was not the best thing that you could have done. Your father has been rather impatient; we had to make him leave so that we could get our work done."

"How long was I out?"

"For about a day and a half"

As the doctor went on, Alex thought back to the day before. She remembered practically nothing. She remembered as she was floating in and out being in a room with the Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny, Santa Claus, and for some strange reason Teddy Roosevelt. It was like that Diet Doctor Pepper commercial where everyone didn't believe that a diet soda could taste good. It must have been the painkillers that had been making her hallucinate. She also had another "visitor" while she thought she was hallucinating. It was the person she'd wanted to see most. Her mother visited her.

_"I see that you've been saved. Good"_

"Okay Mom, I'm on painkillers. I'm pretty sure that you are a Vicodin induced hallucination"

_"You know when I visited your father; he said the exact same thing. The doctors are worried about you; you haven't come out of your delirium."_

"It's not for the lack of trying, Mom. Why did this happen to me?"

_"Your father and I got those Russians angry about eleven years ago. We put several of their leadership in the ground. I know that Yuri told you this. They always wanted avenge what we did to them, and killing me was a part of that. You need to come out of this state Alex; you need to help put the man that set you up behind bars."_

"But if I'm not in this state, I won't be able to talk to you."

_"You'll always be able to talk to me. You just have to listen carefully for the answers"._

Alex then returned to the present. The doctor was still yakking. She wanted to get out of the hospital as quickly as she could.

"Hey Doc, when can I leave?"

The doctor rolled his eyes. He'd been warned that once she was awake, she would start nagging about wanting to leave.

"You can leave when your father gets here. The nurses are calling him as we speak."

"Can't I get dressed into some decent clothes?"

"Not until your father gets here. He's bringing you some clothes."

Alex fidgeted nervously. She'd never talked with her dad as her dad. What would they talk about?

Gibbs drove like a maniac. What would normally be a half hour drive took him about fifteen minutes. He was also nervous about what they would talk about. He figured she was every bit as nervous as he was, if not more so. As he got to the hospital, he barged into the elevator. There was no one else in the elevator, which was a good thing. He fumed that he hadn't shot Yuri. He had wanted to so badly. But he had not wanted to. Living knowing that he'd failed was worse than death. He got to Alex's floor. The doctor looked somewhat harried. Gibbs smirked. Alex was definitely awake and causing grief.

"Hey Doc, how's she doing?"

"Your daughter is doing just fine, considering. No sooner had she woken up, she immediately began bugging me about leaving. She's been nagging for decent clothes. Her room number is 327, why don't you bring her the clothes you brought her; we have some paperwork that you need to fill out."  
Gibbs went to Room 327. Alex was sitting up, reading a book that she'd most likely conned a nurse to get her. His question about whether she'd be in crutches or not was answered. He noticed a pair of crutches next to her bed.

"Practiced on them yet?"

"I have been practicing for the past half an hour. They aren't as hard to use as they look. May I have my clothes please?"

Gibbs handed her the clothes. They were an NCIS T-shirt and a pair of jeans. She took them and nodded her thanks. She then said,

"Can I get dressed now Dad? You do have paperwork to do."

Gibbs got her hint. He left the room to go do the paperwork. Alex proceeded to struggle into the jeans. They were hard to get on over her cast, but after about 10 minutes of squirming, she managed to get them on over her cast. The shirt was easier to get on. Just as she finished up getting her stuff together and was getting onto her crutches, he dad walked in. She smiled at him, and said

"Let's go home"

After a _very _tense drive back to the house, Alex went into what would appear to be her room. Gibbs and Ducky must have already gotten her stuff from the school and Ducky's place. She hobbled around getting her belongings to where she thought that they should belong. She sensed that her dad was at the doorway.

"Do you like it? Ducky and I brought your stuff here."

"It's terrific, Gibbs. I like it here. When can we get the person that set me up for this?"

"You should probably rest, Alex."

"I've rested for a day and a half. I want to do something, or I'll get stir crazy. And Ducky says that I'm worse than mom was."

Gibbs had a look of shock on his face. He didn't think that there was anyone worse than Jen when it came to getting stir crazy, but if there was someone that was worse than her, her kid could most likely manage it. He shook his head. _Their_ kid could probably manage it.

"Okay. Let's get to NCIS."

Back at NCIS, Gibb's team was working around the clock to find out who'd engineered the kidnap op for Alex. The director had given Gibbs a direct order to stay with Alex for the next week. But McGee and Ducky had a feeling that the pair would show up at NCIS. As suspected, Gibbs and Alex turned up at NCIS. Right after McGee found the name for a Lieutenant Commander that would've had access to the school.

"Hey boss, there is a Lieutenant Commander Eric Walker who is a trustee at Hawker Hall. I can get a picture to see if we can make an ID."

"Then do so, McGee."

As the picture came up, Alex's eyes darkened. She recognized him. She said a few things in Russian that should never be translated.

"I take it you recognize him, Alex", stated Gibbs after he gave her a look that would've melted lead.

"Remember that kid that you kept me from murdering?"

"That kid is kind of hard to forget. Why?"

"That's his uncle."

"Uncle? I thought that his last name was Carmichael", said DiNozzo.

"He's his mother's brother."

Gibbs grinned evilly. He remembered Jen mentioning that her father had had a Commander Greg Walker put up for Court Martial. His son's name had been Eric. She'd met him after college but before she went to NCIS. He tried to hit on her, but she was immune to his charm. She wasn't a sucker for dress whites.

"DiNozzo, David go pick up Walker and bring him in for questioning"

After they left, he noticed that Director Mackenzie saw him and walked towards her office.

"I thought I told you to stay with your daughter and not come in for a week."

"You only said stay with my daughter; you failed to specify that I was not to come to work. Besides, Alex helped us with a possible ID. A Lieutenant Commander Eric Walker is a trustee at Alex's old school and has a possible grudge".

"What's the grudge, Agent Gibbs?"

"The then Captain Jasper Shepard put the Lieutenant Commander's father up for a Court Martial. The grudge was furthered when Walker was a Lieutenant j.g. and he met Jen… I mean Director Shepard before she was at NCIS. He was used to having his dress whites help him with the ladies, I'm sure you know how well that works for _some_ people. But as Director Shepard put it, she was not a sucker for dress whites. She also didn't like him very much. So, along with the grudge that his father ground into him for her Colonel Shepard, he now had a grudge of his own; no matter how petty."

"So he had Alex kidnapped to exact revenge on the Shepards? How did he have contact with the Russians?"

"McGee figured that out. Walker had gambling debts, ones that were involved with the Russian mob. When the Vor e Zakone found out about Alex, they told him that they'd forgive him his debts. All he had to do was give them the access codes to get into school grounds and a diversion so that they could snatch Alex. He tried to kill two birds with one stone, settle his gambling debts and settle his family's score. We have proof of his connections to the Russian mob. All we have to do is interrogate him."

"You cannot interrogate him Gibbs; you are too emotionally invested in this case. Agent McGee will interrogate him once he is brought in. You and Alex can watch, but not interrupt. Do you understand me?"

"Yes Director."

Lieutenant Commander Eric Walker had been "asked" to come to NCIS HQ for questioning. He had no fear. He'd covered his tracks. Of course the two agents that had picked him up were rather confident. They'd dropped him off in an interrogation room. He hadn't heard that the kidnap had failed yet. He also didn't know that Alexandra Shepard was alive and had already identified him. A young agent came in and shut the door.

"Hello. I am Special Agent McGee. We just need you to answer a few questions."

"Ask away Agent McGee."

"You had gambling debts, correct?"

"Is this just about my gambling? Cause if it is, NCIS must have nothing better to do than to check up on my bank account. Besides they've been settled."

"How so Commander?"

"I paid my debts and I got something in return."

"Do you know an Alexandra Shepard?"

"No I do not. Why would I know a ten year old bastard?"

"Who said anything about her being ten years old and illegitimate? All I gave you was her name."

Walker froze. He'd blown it. He would try to bluff his way out.

"Uh, she goes to school with my nephew. He told me all this. Besides, she's dead isn't she, the Russian mob captured her?"

"Now how do you know that? You'd only know that if you had something to do with her kidnap"

Walker mentally hit himself. McGee smirked.

"I think that we have enough information now. Lieutenant Commander Eric Walker, you are under arrest on the charges of: Accessory to kidnap, conspiracy to kidnap, depraved indifference, felony murder, conduct unbecoming an officer, and suspected treason."

Behind the one way glass. Gibbs and Alex smirked. They'd gotten the SOB that helped the Russians do this to her. Now there would be an Article 32 hearing about whether there would be a Court Martial. Given the evidence, there would most likely be one. Alex turned to Gibbs.

"Dad I have a confession to make."

"What is it Alex?"

"I'm scared of being in front of large crowds of people"

Gibbs smiled lightly. Of all the things his daughter could be afraid of, she was afraid of public speaking.

"Hey Alex, I'm sure who ever is going to be prosecuting this case can give you some pointers."

"Who's going to be prosecuting him?"

"I don't know. Whoever Admiral Chegwidden wants to prosecute"

The next day, Admiral Chegwidden got the formal charges for Lieutenant Commander Walker from NCIS. It was a long list of charges. He already had made up his mind as to who would prosecute and who would defend.

"Petty Officer Coates, tell Captains Rabb and Turner to report to my office immediately. They have a new case I want to discuss with them."

He waited for about three minutes before the two captains came.

"At ease Captains, you have a new case. It's the Walker Court Martial. Captain Rabb you'll be prosecuting; Captain Turner, you'll be defending. This one is going to be an interesting one. A former Lt. Commander has a whole mess of charges up against him, and the evidence against him is strong. He aided and abetted a kidnap, committed felony murder, depraved indifference to the well being of three minors, and is also suspected of treason. Here are the names of the girls that were kidnapped."

The two captains looked at the names of the girls and their ages: Arianna Pryce, sixteen, Elena Ramirez, twelve, and Alexandra Shepard, ten. They were also all willing to testify for the prosecution. Turner knew that he would have an uphill battle under the best of circumstances.

"So which one was the reason for the kidnap?" asked Turner.

"Alexandra Shepard. Apparently her parents got the Russian mob angry at them, so she was kidnapped as revenge against her father."

"Who's her father?" Turner asked again.

"NCIS Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs is her father. Of all the kids the Vor e Zakone could have kidnapped, they picked the worst kid. You guys have your files. Commander Roberts and Lieutenant Vukovic will be second chairing for the prosecution and defense."

The two captains walked out and went to their offices. Rabb knew that he was lucky that no one knew that he knew of the case before today. It was convenient that your wife was the director of NCIS. While he was reading the brief, Turner poked his head in.

"You want to make a deal?"

"The death penalty is off the table if your client confesses to everything."

"That's not much of a deal Captain. Isn't that overkill?"

"Not for what he's charged with. If he doesn't deal out, and he probably won't, he'd be lucky if he just got life imprisonment."

"No deal, Captain".

"See you at the hearing".


	15. That's Amore

Chapter XV: That's Amore

Alex Shepard was finally happy. She was staying with her father, she was going to leave Hawker Hall, and she was going to help put the man that helped the Russians kidnap her in Leavenworth. But since she was officially out of Hawker Hall, she hadn't been enrolled at another school. So, since her leg was broken, and Gibbs wouldn't let her out of his sight, she was going with him to NCIS. She was going to get to see Abby, McGee, Tony, and Ziva. She was excited. She also would have to talk with Captain Rabb about the upcoming trial of former Lieutenant Commander Walker for treason, accessory to kidnap, conspiracy to kidnap, depraved indifference, felony murder, and the ever popular conduct unbecoming an officer charge. She was a witness for the trial, and was probably going to have to testify if a deal was not met. Captain Rabb was not in the mood to be merciful so it was unlikely that there was going to be a deal made. That would mean that she would have to testify at a Court Martial proceeding. That scared her more than being kidnapped at the moment, because she hated talking in front of large crowds. Her dad noticed that she was thinking rather intently. He then asked:

"Something on your mind Alex"

"Yes dad there is. What happens if I have to testify at the Court Martial?"

"You'll testify Alex. Are you scared?"

"Yes dad, I am. I don't do well in front of large crowds, talking at least."

"Hey cheer up. You get to visit Abby, McGee, Ziva, and Tony today. You're also going to get to talk to Rabb and the Director about the case. Don't worry; they are both lawyers they can help prep you for the trial."

"Gotcha Dad. Thanks"

She then proceeded to hug her dad from across the car. She was then crushed by her father's bear hug. They were both still mourning the loss of her mother. She was all he had left.

"Alex, they can no longer hurt you. I will protect you, I promise."

"I know dad"

They arrived in the NCIS parking garage. Her dad got out and went to her side of the car to help her out and onto her crutches. It had been surprising as to how quickly she'd taken to them. It was probably her judo training. As they got inside NCIS, she got smiles from everyone. She looked a lot like her mother everyone said. Except for her blue eyes; which she'd inherited from her father. After they'd gotten onto the elevator, she asked her dad

"Hey can I visit Abby's lab? She said that I could visit her anytime I wanted when I was here."

"Go ahead Alex; I know that she likes to see you"

Alex smiled. She couldn't wait to see Abby today. She loved talking to her.

Meanwhile in the NCIS forensics lab…

Abby was usually pretty conscientious about keeping her private life separate from her life at work. Since her boyfriend was an NCIS agent, that was becoming rather difficult. She and McGee were getting the heat up when she noticed something that was not good. Gibb's daughter Alex was in her lab. Her eyes were the size of dinner plates. She then started to try to get McGee's attention.

"Tim… Tim… When she realized that he wasn't paying attention she practically shouted MCGEE!"

That got his attention finally. He looked up.

"Abby?"

"We've got company."

He turned around. He then noticed a rather small person on crutches smiling. It was Gibb's daughter Alex.

"Uh Alex, I don't want you to think that Abby is…"

She cut him off.

"Dad said that you two were trying to figure out how to get started as a couple. Well all I have to say is that it's about time"

Abby and McGee flushed as red as tomatoes. They were so embarrassed that they'd been walked in on by their boss's kid. Abby then asked,

"Hey Alex would you like me to sign your cast?"

Alex knew that this was a way to mask her embarrassment at the moment.

"Yes of course"

After the cast was signed, Alex and McGee left for the elevator. McGee apologized five times while in the elevator with Alex.

"McGee, there is nothing to be embarrassed about. You were with your girlfriend. I didn't even see that much."

That calmed McGee down momentarily. He was just nervous as to whether she would tell her father.

"Look, I won't go out of my way to tell dad, but if he asks, I am not going to lie to him. He can read me like a book".

"I would never ask you to lie to your father."

"I know McGee. Now I'm just going to go to one of the unused interrogation rooms to occupy myself with a crossword puzzle"

They stopped at the floor where the interrogation rooms were. Alex hobbled off.

"See you later McGee."

Alex went to an unused interrogation room. She sat down, turned on her I-pod and got started on her puzzles. She loved doing them. It helped keep her mind off the things that had happened to her recently. She also thought about what she'd seen in the lab. Oy vey. It wasn't as explicit as it could have been. It was sort of like the scene in the parachute hangar in _Pearl Harbor_. You didn't see much, but you knew what was going on. She wondered if her parents had ever done anything like _that_ at work. She doubted it, but she couldn't really know for sure. She knew little about her parent's relationship. Even Ducky wouldn't tell her what he knew about it. He'd said it was for her father to tell her, not him. After she'd been at her crossword puzzles for about forty-minutes, she got restless. Her leg itched like nothing else. She had tried to smuggle a ruler in her bag, but couldn't get it past her father. She decided to get up and explore the interrogation rooms. She didn't expect to see much, it was early in the day. She just saw empty rooms. Until she came to the last of the interrogation rooms, she saw nothing of interest. What she noticed in the last room was _very_ interesting and also very awkward. It was Tony and Ziva going at each other like drowning people. After what seemed like hours but was more likely only about thirty seconds, she closed the door. She realized that this was not something that was appropriate for two NCIS agents. Then again, she was the product of two NCIS agents behaving in that manner, so she should have nothing to say about it. As she went back to the elevator to go to the bullpen, she thought

"Geez, did everyone eat their Wheeties today?"

Little did she realize that this was only the beginning of her _rather_ educational day. That the two couples she'd witnessed were only minor league compared to the biology lesson she'd get later.

It was around lunchtime. She'd said little to her father while she was in the bullpen doing crossword puzzles. He'd looked at her oddly and had asked her what was up. She just said nothing. She knew her father would try (and probably would) get information out of her later. She was getting more and more nervous about talking with Captain Rabb and the Director.

"Alex, you've been quiet all morning, what's wrong?"

"I'm just hungry, dad what's for lunch?"

"Pizza; DiNozzo's ordering Papa John's, what kind do you want?"

"Spicy Italian Sausage and Pepperoni"

They ate the pizza like starving hounds. McGee kept on staring at Alex nervously. She noticed his stares and discreetly nodded. Her father knew nothing yet. In about five hours, she'd regret not telling her father about what she'd seen. She'd get an education like none she'd ever received in her short life.

About five and a half hours later…

Alex was getting ready to go up to the Director's office. She'd said little this afternoon, because she was getting more and more nervous about talking to the Captain and the Director.

"Hey dad, I'm going to go up ten minutes early, because the sooner I finish this the better."

"Alex, you do realize that this is just a prep session and that you'll have to talk to the Captain tomorrow, right?"

"Yes dad, I am well aware of that."

Alex went to the elevator to go upstairs even though there was a staircase that would've been much faster. Her dad wouldn't let her use the stairs. He said that she wasn't ready. She mentally prepared herself for talking with them. It was going to be an illuminating session. As she got off the elevator, Cynthia got on. She said,

"They are waiting for you"

Alex hopped along to the Director's office. DiNozzo called her Hop-Along Alex once before she gave him a glare that would have made her mother proud. She'd also noticed Ziva's smirk as she did that. She then opened the door to the Director's office. Her mind went blank as she got a Biology lesson that she was not ready to receive. The only thing that went through her head was:

_"OH MY GOD! TIME FOR ME TO LEAVE THE ROOM!"_

She slammed the door shut. She'd realized that she only been there for about ninety seconds, but it seemed like a hundred years. She then bolted from the office, probably setting a land speed record for someone moving on crutches. She saw nothing only her goal to get to the elevator before anyone noticed. Once she got to the elevator, she took some time to gather her breath and take possession of her senses. She also took the time to try and process what she'd seen. What she'd seen was something that would probably make Toulouse Lautrec blush. And that was saying something. She needed to talk to someone. Not her dad, he'd have a heart attack. She decided to go talk to an old friend. He was a doctor, and she'd known him longer than she'd known her dad.

Ducky was finishing up an autopsy of one of the bastards that had kidnapped Alex. Cause of death was easy to figure out. It was a single gunshot wound in the chest. He knew that Alex would have to have a psych evaluation for the Court Martial. They were bringing in someone from New York, a Lieutenant Commander from the reserves. He was said to be one of the best in his field and he worked with the NYPD. While he was musing about this doctor, the Autopsy doors flew open. He looked up to see his former charge rush into Autopsy, her face the color of the setting sun. He then asked her,

"What's wrong Alexandra?"

She caught her breath. She calmed down visibly. She then asked,

"If I tell you something that happened, will you promise not to tell Dad?"

"Just as long as it didn't cause you physical harm, I won't."

Alex took a deep breath.

"I walked in on three couples today, all in various stages of activity."

Ducky interrupted her

"You WHAT?"

"I walked in on three couples today, two of them first thing in the morning, then next couple not till about five minutes ago."

"Who were the couples?"

"I'm getting to that. You know how Abby said that I could come and visit her in her lab anytime I wanted? Well this morning after Dad and I got in, I went to Abby's lab only to find her and McGee going at it. I did not see very much, and what I did see was rather mild. You remember that scene in the parachute hangar in _Pearl Harbor?_"

Ducky smiled.

"Yes Alex, I remember that scene rather well."

"That was what the level of antics that I saw. I didn't see very much, but I knew what was going on. Abby and McGee were so embarrassed; they apologized to me nonstop for about five minutes before I cut them off. They calmed down, and then Abby signed my cast. While I was in the elevator, McGee apologized to me five more times. I told him that I got the point, he was with his girlfriend, and that I hadn't seen very much. I do not think that they deserved to be punished because their embarrassment is punishment enough."

Ducky was silent for a moment. He'd known that Abigail and Timothy were in their awkward stage of their relationship. They were trying to figure things out, and their boss's daughter walking in on them wasn't going to make things any easier. He agreed with Alex.

"So when did you walk in on round two?"

"I walked in on couple number two about forty-five minutes later. I'd been doing my crossword puzzles in one of the unused interrogation rooms. My leg started to itch really badly, and I had nothing to itch it with. So I decided to do some hobbling around looking in the interrogation rooms. Since it was early, I didn't expect anything too bad. Boy was I mistaken. I opened the door of the last interrogation room, and for about thirty seconds watched Tony and Ziva go at it like drowning people…" Ducky then interrupted her by saying,

"I'll kill them myself!"

"Doctor Mallard, calm down. They were like some of the scenes from _L.A Confidential_, I knew exactly what was going on, and I shut the door as soon I got possession of my senses again. I wasn't that embarrassed by the incident, so I decided to say nothing. I know that NCIS has rules about behaving like that, but since I'm a product of two agents behaving in that manner, I had no room to talk. Hey Ducky, did Mom and Dad ever do anything like that at work?"

"I do not believe they did, but you will have to ask your father about that".

Alex continued talking.

"As I walked to the elevator, I asked myself, "Did everyone eat their Wheeties this morning or what?" I wasn't too worried about it, and I had no intention of telling Dad about the two rather awkward incidents that happened this morning. That was until I walked in on round number three…" That was when Alex really blushed to the roots of her red hair.

Ducky noticed this, and asked:

"Alexandra, who was round number three that you walked in on?"

Alex swallowed several times before speaking again. This was the incident that she really didn't want to talk about.

"Ducky, do I have to talk about this couple; it's really embarrassing and awkward for me to talk about?"

"Alexandra, you said you walked in on three couples. You will tell me about all three incidents."

Still Alex wouldn't say a word. Her face got even redder to the point that her face resembled the color of the surface of Mars. Then something hit him. There was something unique about this couple that made Alex uncomfortable.

"Alexandra, is there anything unique about this couple that makes them different from the others?"

"Yes Ducky there is a small thing that makes the third round unique…"

"Well what is it, Alexandra?"

Alex took a few deep breaths before she answered him. She knew he would most likely blow a gasket when he heard who it was.

"This couple, unlike the other two, are a married couple", was Alex's answer.

That got Ducky thinking. There weren't too many married agents that worked at NCIS. So by process of elimination, he began to get a good idea as to who the third couple was.

"Alexandra, they aren't agents are they?"

"No Ducky they are not. One of them is in administration at NCIS and the other does not even work at NCIS."

As Ducky thought about this new information, he approached only one conclusion. He then asked her:

"Did you walk in on the Director and the Captain?"

Alex blushed to the roots of her red hair again. She _really_ did not want to talk about them. It was an awkward situation for her. The fact that the Director was her father's boss and that she would be seeing a lot of Captain Rabb for the next couple months because of the Court Martial was going to be nerve wracking because she could not get what she'd seen out of her head.

"Yes Ducky, I walked in on them. And after about what seemed like a century, but was more likely only ninety seconds, I shut the door and probably set a land speed record for someone on crutches trying to get to the elevator."

"Alex, I'm going to X-Ray your leg, just to make sure you didn't rebreak your leg"

"Okay"

As Ducky got her leg ready for a new X-Ray, he knew that he had to say something to her. She was an excellent patient. While the X-Ray was developing, he asked her,

"Does Jethro know about the incidents today?"

"Dad does not know; I plan to tell him tonight"

"You better tell him about all of the incidents, especially the last one."

"Do I have to tell him about that one?"

"If you could only tell your father about one of the incidents, you would have to tell him about the last one. It is the most important one for your father to know about." He noticed that the X-Ray was done.

"Good. You did not rebreak your leg in your mad dash to the elevator"

Alex then got up from the Autopsy table. She got back onto her crutches because it was time for her to leave with her dad.

Gibbs was noticing that Alex was rather quiet. She'd been like this all day and wouldn't tell him what was up. Just when he was about to ask her what had happened today, she asked him a question.

"Hey uh dad, if I told about some things that happened today, will you promise not to get mad at me?"

"As long as you were not at fault, I won't"

"Trust me dad, I wasn't."

"Alright, tell me what happened."

Alex took a deep breath. She knew that she was going to be answering a lot of questions for the rest of the drive home.

"I walked in on three couples today."

"You WHAT!"

"You heard me the first time Dad. I walked in on three couples today, and since I knew that you would get this out of me anyway, I figured to beat you to the punch".

Gibbs slowly calmed down. He would have six people to murder tomorrow. Alex noticed this look and read it. She could read him as well as her mother could.

"I'll get started with the first couple. I went to Abby's lab to talk to her, like she said I could. I wasn't expecting much of anything, but I got surprised. Abby and McGee were going at it. After about fifteen seconds, Abby noticed that I was there. It took her about ten more seconds to get McGee's attention, and once they did, they did not stop apologizing to me for about five minutes. They were so embarrassed. After I told them that you'd told me that they were working on being a couple and that I wasn't surprised, they calmed down. After Abby signed my cast, McGee and I went to the elevator. McGee apologized to me five more times while we were in the elevator. Dad, don't kill them. Their embarrassment was punishment enough."

Gibbs absorbed all of this. This was not a conversation he'd planned on having with his daughter for another few years. But he listened to her. Abby and McGee were trying hard to figure out how to be a couple and Alex interrupting them probably wasn't going to help matters. He decided not to murder them; he would just have a nice long chat with them.

"Okay. I won't murder Abby and McGee. Who was the second couple?"

Alex flushed only slightly. This couple was somewhat awkward, but nowhere near as awkward as the third couple would be.

"After I left McGee in the elevator, I went to an unused interrogation room. I started on my crossword puzzles, and stuck with them for about forty-five minutes. Then my leg started to itch under my cast. I couldn't itch it with anything at hand since you've confiscated all of my rulers", Gibbs smirked at that. Alex must have bought at least ten rulers in as many days. At least she wasn't using pencils.

"Well since I couldn't scratch under my cast, I decided to pack up my stuff and explore the rest of the interrogation rooms. I figured that walking around would get my mind off of my leg. There was nothing interesting in the interrogation rooms until I opened the door to the last room. Yikes is about the only word that I can think of to use; because I saw Tony and Ziva going at it like drowning people…" she then was interrupted by her dad who yelled

"I'LL KILL THEM BOTH!"

Alex let her dad vent about them for a little while. Her dad was saying things in Russian that were not nice. As he calmed down, she continued with her story.

"Before you kill them dad, just ask them one question, HOW?"

"I will ask them that."

Alex then grinned crookedly. She then asked,

"Did you and mom ever do anything like that at work?"

"Not at work. So who's the third couple?"

Alex found that she was at an impasse. This was the most awkward of the three incidents; especially since it concerned her dad's boss. Gibbs noticed this.

"Come on Alex, spit it out, who was it?"

Alex still remained silent. She also proceeded to blush to the roots of her red hair. Then something hit Gibbs.

"Alex, please tell me that the third couple is not married"

"I could tell you that, but then I'd be lying; and I know how you are about lying."

As she said this, Gibbs slammed on the brakes of the car. There was only one couple she could possibly be talking about.

"Alex… Did you walk in on the Director and Captain Rabb?"

Alex said nothing; the look in her eyes said it all. Gibbs tried to be calm for Alex's sake.

"How long were you there?"

"Long enough to get biology lessons that I was not anywhere near ready to receive."

Gibbs sat and thought. This incident was more than just some junior agents fooling around. This situation involved the Director. It would have to be handled somewhat delicately.

"Okay Alex, I will talk with them all tomorrow. I will go to Falls Church before taking you, so I can have a _nice, long_ conversation with Captain Rabb. I won't make you discuss it with them tomorrow".

Alex breathed a sigh of relief. She would not have to discuss anything about the third go-round with the participating parties. But she would have to talk with one tomorrow about the Court Martial.

The next day…

Gibbs drove like a madman to NCIS HQ the next day. He dropped Alex off in one of the unused interrogation rooms, and then dragged Tony, Ziva, and McGee down to Abby's lab. McGee's look on his face was that of a man that thought that he was going to die soon. Gibbs shut the door to Abby's lab once they got there and gave them all of them his famous death glare.

"So… I guess you're all wondering why I dragged you guys down here first thing in the morning. Let me give all of you guys a hint. It has to do with Alex and the three couples she walked in on yesterday."

Abby and McGee started apologizing immediately. They knew that their boss was not amused with all of this. Once they began repeating themselves, Gibbs cut them off.

"Since you two were the first to apologize I will start with you; might as well go in order of who she interrupted. She told me that she did not see very much. And she also told me that once you two noticed she was present, you did not stop apologizing for five minutes. McGee, she told me that you apologized to her five more times while in the elevator. She also told me not to murder you guys, because your embarrassment was punishment enough."

Abby and McGee were silent. They knew that they were being let off easy. They then watched Gibbs start on Tony and Ziva.

"Forty-five minutes after she left McGee in the elevator, she walked in on her second round pick of Tony and Ziva. She opened the door for about thirty seconds, and then once she regained possession of her faculties, she shut the door. She said that you two were going at each like the other was drowning. And, before I murdered you two, she said to ask you guys How you did that?"

Ziva found her voice and said,

"I actually did see Alex at the door. But she did not see that I noticed her"

Gibbs looked satisfied.

"But she said also not to punish you guys, since there were bigger fish to fry than you two."

Abby then asked,

"Who's the third couple?"

Gibbs thought for a moment. This was going to be the difficult one to explain. It involved their boss and her husband.

"This one was the most awkward for Alex, because unlike you guys, these two are married."

The three agents and the forensic scientist were silent for a moment. They were trying to figure out who the mystery couple was. Abby and McGee figured it out first. The looks on their faces were priceless. McGee spoke first,

"Boss, she didn't walk in on the Director and her husband, did she?"

Gibbs grinned somewhat. He was proud that McGee was the first to figure it out. But then he realized that this was nothing to smile about.

"Yes she did walk in on them. No she did not give me details. And do NOT ask her any questions about it. Now I have to go and deal with the last round. Any questions?"

His junior agents shook their heads. Gibbs rushed out. He had business he had to take care of.

Gibbs went upstairs. He didn't know how to start this conversation with the Director. As he went up the stairs to her office, he decided that it would be a parent to parent talk.

Director Mackenzie was curious. Why hadn't Alex showed up yesterday to talk with her and Harm? She would call Agent Gibbs to her office and ask him. Then Agent Gibbs came up and shut the door.

"Director, can I talk to you, as a parent?"

"Of course Agent Gibbs, but I have to ask you one question. Where was Alex yesterday, she was supposed to talk with Harm about the trial at 18:00"

"Oh, that's what I wanted to talk to you about. She did show up yesterday, but ten minutes early. Do you remember what was going on at 17:50 here in your office, Director?"

She thought back to yesterday. She remembered what was going on yesterday, in her office at 17:50. She blushed slightly.

"Agent Gibbs, she didn't…"

"She did."

She was embarrassed somewhat. One of her agent's kids had walked in on her and her husband when she was supposed to be there to talk about her testimony for a Court martial.

"I want to talk to her"

"Absolutely not; She's going be going through enough today with the official prep for the trial with the Captain"

"I take it you're going to have a word with him."

"Yes I am. It will be before I take Alex, because I do not want her to be around while I do this"

On the way to Falls Church…

Gibbs was taking the longer way to Falls Church in order to calm himself down. If he did not take the long way, he would probably murder a certain naval aviator. Or beat him senseless. He didn't know what he'd do. He'd get in trouble either way. He got to JAG HQ, parked the car. He noticed a red Corvette. The person he wanted to talk with was here. As he walked in he noticed that Admiral Chegwidden was on his way in also.

"Hello Agent Gibbs, where is your daughter? I thought that she was coming in today."

"Yes sir Admiral, she is but not yet. I have to talk to Captain Rabb. Alone."

"What happened Agent Gibbs?"

Gibbs hesitated. Did he want to tell Rabb's CO about what happened in the director's office the day before?

"Do you really want to know sir? It's kind of awkward for all parties involved?"

"How is it awkward for your daughter…" he trailed off as it hit him.

Gibbs noticed the angry look on the Admiral's face.

"You see Admiral; I really don't want to tell you anything until I talk with the resident naval aviator. See you later sir."

As Gibbs left, Chegwidden couldn't help but smirk to himself. What a fine mess those two had gotten themselves into again.

Captain Rabb was curious as to why Gibb's daughter had not shown up yesterday. From what he could tell, she was every bit as stubborn as her father was and then some. Why hadn't she shown up? He then noticed Gibbs coming in. He looked loaded for bear.

"Hello Agent Gibbs, where was Alex last night? She was supposed to talk with me about the trial."

"That's what I'm here to talk to you about _Captain. _She arrived about ten minutes early to the director's office; do you happen to remember what was happening in the director's office at about 17:50?" Gibbs asked with a death glare on his face.

Rabb concealed his momentary confusion better than his wife had. As he thought back to yesterday, he realized what Alex had seen. Christ, it was going to be awkward talking with her now. He had to apologize to her and quick.

"I'm going to apologize to her today."

"No you will not. I don't want her stressing about that today."

"One thing, Alex and the other girls will have to have psych eval. Lieutenant Commander Hwang is coming in from New York. He's one of the best in his field and he works with the NYPD. You'll meet him tomorrow."


	16. From the Mud

Chapter XVI: From the Mud…

**A/N: Sorry about the long wait. A combination of real life, writer's block, and a screwy laptop kept me from updating. Hope you guys will find it in you to forgive me. This is the beginning of the end. This is the third from the last chapter. All Russian and German translations are courtesy of Babel Fish. I wish I could speak Russian, it sounds so different from everything else. Enjoy!**

**She-Demon**

* * *

Alex was really nervous. It had only been a few hours since her dad had come back from his "errands". She knew exactly what he did: He'd gone to Falls Church to have a word with Captain Rabb. She tried to ask her father what had been said between them, but he would not tell her what had happened. The only thing that he had told her was that today her and her two fellow former captives would have a psych eval. She really did not like that.

"Dad, why do I have to have a psych evaluation?"

"To make sure that you all are not too shaken up to testify. And I believe that this is mostly for your benefit, because of what you've been through in the past two and a half years: Your mom being murdered, getting kidnapped by the Russian mob, injuring yourself while escaping, and finding out about me. The defense is going to try and discredit your testimony in any way possible. It has to be made sure that you three won't break down on the stand."

"Dad, you know that I won't do that!"

"Look, Alex it's a formality. I know you've been having trouble sleeping. Are you scared about testifying?"

"A little, but that's not what is keeping me awake. Every time I close my eyes, I see what I saw five days ago. I can't get it out of my head."

Gibbs fought the urge to mutter something rather obscene about Captain Rabb. He normally would use Russian, but his daughter understood Russian. While Alex was talking with the shrink, he would have another chat with Rabb. It was his damn fault that she wasn't sleeping.

Lieutenant Commander George Hwang was walking towards the interrogation rooms. He'd evaluated the first two girls and had found them to be sound enough to testify. He'd been told to leave the redhead for last. Captain Rabb had said:

"Start with blond then work with the brunette. Leave the redhead for last; she's the one that's been through the most."

"She's the one with the broken leg?"

"Among other things; have you read her file yet?"

"Not yet, Captain. I was just getting to it before you came in."

Before he asked for the redhead to be sent in, he read her file. Captain Rabb hadn't been kidding when he said that this girl had been through hell. Her mother murdered when she was seven and a half, kidnapped by the Russian mob when she was ten, broke her leg escaping from said kidnappers, met her father whom she'd never known a few weeks ago, and now had to testify at the Court Martial of the man who'd arranged the kidnap. He was done reading. He needed to speak to her. He'd be surprised if she wasn't a wreck.

"Send Miss Shepard in"

The agent at the door nodded and motioned down the hall. He heard her before he saw her; her crutches were creaking. When he saw her it was a surprise. She was anything but a wreck; in fact she had a look of determination on her face.

"Please have a seat, Miss Shepard. We need to talk."

She sat down and put her crutches up against the table. She looked at him suspiciously.

"Your file says you've been through a lot. Care to elaborate?"

"Well, after my mom was murdered, I didn't speak for two months. I was in denial. After from the July after my mom's death to that December; I was angry all of the time. That was when I was kicked off the school sports teams. My grades also slipped. I got into fights at school at least once a week. When January rolled around, I was still angry but I started bargaining. I told God that I would stop fighting if I could just see my mom again. I made all sorts of offers. That lasted about two months, until I fell into the depression stage. I was depressed to say the least. I didn't eat that much during that time; I ate enough to sustain life, but not for enjoyment. Ducky was really worried about me during this time. He thought that I would hurt myself…"

"Did you hurt yourself, Miss Shepard?"

"No I did not. I will admit that I kinda toyed with it. But I chose not to. I let out my anger and pain on punching bags. I destroyed at least three of them. This lasted from February 2009 to April of 2009. Once in April, spring seemed to come again. It cheered me up. I was out of the depression stage, but I wasn't in the acceptance stage. I didn't really accept the situation until Ducky took me to mom's grave on the anniversary of her death. He didn't tell me what we were doing; all I noticed was that he'd brought a bouquet of orchids. He'd tried to talk about mom with me, but I refused. When we got to the grave, he told me to talk with my mom; it would make me feel better. After I'd talked to her for about ten minutes, I began to feel better. I was getting all of my pent up emotions out in the open. While I talked to her, it was like she was actually there. I could feel a loving presence while I talked. After that day, I accepted that what had happened had taken place. This past fall, I got onto the judo team. For once, being rough was not only acceptable, but a qualifying factor. I may have finished the grief process, but I still had a lot of anger in me. Nothing out of the ordinary happened for a few months until I was kidnapped, and here we are now. Is that enough for you Doc to make your choice as to whether I am competent to testify?"

Hwang was shocked at how matter of factly she sounded. As far as he could tell, she was more than competent to testify. He just had to leave to get something to drink.

"Do you want anything to drink, Miss Shepard?"

"No, Doc; but thanks for the offer."

Hwang left the interrogation room to go get some water. As he was coming back he heard raised voices coming from the forensics lab. He went to the lab to see what was going on and who was arguing. As he got closer, he recognized the voices: It was Captain Rabb and Special Agent Gibbs. They seemed to be in a rather heated discussion. He caught the end of what Gibbs was saying.

"…. Couldn't you two have waited another hour to do that in the privacy of your own house? What she saw was inappropriate for a ten year old to see, and she's been having trouble sleeping for the past five nights!"

"Agent Gibbs, I know that this is my and my wife's fault, but if she'd come up at 18:00 as planned…."

"Don't you DARE try and fop it off on Alex; she was right where she was supposed to be!"

Realizing that he should probably intervene before one of the two tried to kill the other, he stepped into the lab.

"Gentlemen, what are you so heatedly discussing that involves Alex?"

Both of the men shut up. Captain Rabb's face was flushed with a trace of embarrassment, while Agent Gibb's face was a combination of anger and concern.

"Will either of you gentlemen tell what's going on?" and when neither man answered his question he said: "You know, I can always ask your daughter what she thinks you two are arguing about"

That got Gibb's attention at least. He began to talk.

"Well this all started about five days ago, when Alex had to go upstairs to the Director's office for some prep time. When she got there, she got more than she bargained for. She walked in on…." Rabb then interrupted Gibbs.

"Needless to say Doctor, she walked in on my wife and me." Gibbs proceeded to give Rabb a death glare like none he'd ever done before.

Hwang cleared his throat. _That_ was certainly interesting. An ordinary ten year old would be doing things much differently than what Gibb's daughter was doing. Then again, Alexandra Shepard was no ordinary ten year old. He then asked:

"Agent Gibbs how much did your daughter see?"

"She didn't give me specifics all she said was that she got biology lessons that she was not ready for. The only person that she told was probably Doctor Mallard, who's been her guardian since her mother died."

"Do you think he will speak to me?"

"He'll do anything to help Alex, Doc."

* * *

Back in the interrogation room…

Alex was smirking. She'd given that shrink something to think about. He obviously hadn't expected her to be in state she was in. She gave off the aura of having no problem with testifying. She really didn't have a problem testifying, she was just skittish around Captain Rabb after the fiasco in the Director's office. She shuddered as a flash of memory came through again. She heard footsteps coming down the hall. It was Doctor Hwang, and he had Ducky's recorder with him. She looked nervously at it. Five days ago, Ducky had asked her permission to record her discussion with him about the three incidents. She'd given him permission to record her, because she wanted people to believe her.

"Do you know what is on this recorder, Miss Shepard?"

She decided to try and pull the cagy on the Doctor.

"I have absolutely no idea."

"Really. I guess you won't mind if I played this part of the recording then".

She listened to the recording for about ten seconds. It was the part of the discussion where she'd told Ducky about the third couple she walked in on.

"Okay, okay I recognize it. It's from five days ago when I…"

"Doctor Mallard told me everything. He knows that you need help getting through this. According to your father, you haven't been sleeping since the incident."

Alex looked really embarrassed. Her face was the same color as her hair. Her eyes were narrowed to slits. She'd learned that from Ziva.

"How did you find out I haven't been sleeping?"

"I heard your father say that to Captain Rabb while they were arguing. Worried that they would try to hurt each other, I interrupted. After some probing, they gave a Cliff's Notes version of what happened. Then your father told me to go to Doctor Mallard. Then Doctor Mallard said that this recording might help. Why didn't you say anything about this _incident_ while we were talking before?"

"I didn't think it was pertinent, _Doc_."

"It is very pertinent. Have you talked with either of them?"

"God no. I haven't gone near the Director and I only talk to the Captain when I absolutely have to. Other than that, I avoid them like the plague."

"You do realize that you will probably be seeing these people until your dad retires, it's for the best if you get it out in the open now, rather than let it stew"

"I don't want to talk about it with them. End of Story"

Hwang thought for a moment. There was one thing he could do to get her to talk to at least one of them.

"I could say that you are not fit to testify, Miss Shepard."

The look on her face was priceless. She was shocked.

"You wouldn't dare."

"This is a potentially damaging situation that could affect your testimony, if you don't get it out in the open." He said this in a tone that said he wasn't fooling around.

Alex closed her eyes in thought. As much as she didn't want to talk to either one of them, she knew that this psych evaluation would basically say whether she was able to testify. She would do just about anything to testify and help drop kick that jackass all the way to Leavenworth.

"Fine; I'll talk to them, but on my own terms. One at a time and down in Autopsy, with Ducky to run interference."

"Who do you want to deal with first?"

"I'll deal with the Director first."

"Why the Director, Miss Shepard?"

All Alex gave him was a look. He got the message.

"Okay, okay. I'll talk to Doctor Mallard about his role, and then I'll talk with the two of them.

He went to Autopsy to talk to Doctor Mallard.

"Hey Doctor, thanks for the recording; it worked, she's going to talk to both of them."

"You are perfectly welcome, Doctor; anything to help Alexandra. Who does she want to talk to first?"

"For some reason she chose the Director. Do you have any idea why she went that route?"

"I'd venture that she chose the Director first because it's a girl thing. Is there anything that you want me to do?"

"Actually there is. Alex wants to talk to them here in Autopsy, and she also wants you to be here to run interference if necessary."

"Of course; have you talked with them yet? You should also mention to her father that she is going to talk to them."

"I'll talk to Gibbs then to the other two. I'll tell them the conditions she set up."

* * *

About 3 hours later…

She was edgy and nervous. There were many words that could be used to describe how she was feeling at the moment. How would you talk to your dad's boss after something like _that_ had happened? She was glad that Ducky would be there. He would run interference if he deemed it to be necessary.

"Alexandra, it's alright to be nervous. If anything goes awry, you have that recording. They are probably every bit as nervous about talking to you as you are about talking to them."

"Are you saying that I can blackmail them?"

"No, Alexandra I did not say that. Besides I think that your first visitor has arrived with Doctor Hwang."

Alex collected her thoughts. This was going to be fun.

Director Mackenzie was surprised at the mildness of the terms that Alex had set forth for talking with her and her husband. All Hwang had said on the elevator to Autopsy was to let Alex open the door to the conversation. As she went in, she noticed that Doctor Mallard was sitting at a discrete distance. He would be running interference. She didn't see Alex until she spoke.

"Директор доброго утра"-1

She was impressed. Alex could speak Russian.

"Вы можете поговорить русского? I' m впечатлил."-2

"Что я могу"-3

Ducky, not being able to understand Russian put in a request:

"Could you ladies please speak English; My Russian isn't as good as yours"

"As you wish Ducky; I'll change to English."

They both went silent. At least in Russian they would have had some comfort in being blunter with the situation. In English however, it was more awkward. Ducky got impatient. Neither of them were talking.

"You know, I could always play that recording of the little chat we had about how _agile_ the Director is and how well you know that Alex".

They both gave him a death glare that would have put both Gibb's and Director Shepard's to shame. Brown eyes that seemed to turn black and the icy blue eyes that seemed to turn navy blue when angry. Alex's eyes were just like her father's.

"Don't even think about it, _Doctor_", they said in stereo.

"Marines…"

Alex looked at him curiously.

"How do I fall into the category of Marine, Ducky?"

"You _technically_ fall into the category of Marine brat, even though your father was retired at the time."

"Would you say I fall into that category, Director?"

"You fall into that category, very loosely Alex. But I'd say that you fit the bill"

"Director, can I ask you a question?"

"Go ahead."

"Don't you guys have your own house for that? You guys weren't even the only people that I walked in on. The Captain and Agent DiNozzo…"

"Okay. Let's talk baseball."

"Gotcha. All I'll say is that Agent DiNozzo has _a lot_ to learn", said Alex with a smirk.

_"I don't want to know. I don't want to know, I don't want to know"_, was the mantra that went through Director Mackenzie's head. _Three_ couples she walked in on in one day? She could only imagine what went through her head that day. No wonder she was having trouble sleeping!

Hwang poked his head in at Ducky. Ducky nodded his head. They were at least talking about it in a roundabout way.

"Who was the third couple, Alex?"

"Well _Director_, that's classified information; unless you figure it out on your own."

Director Mackenzie just rolled her eyes. Ten year olds could be really irritating when they put their mind to it. Especially _this_ ten year old; then again, she did have grounds to be irritated. It had been easy talking with her, but she knew that it was somebody else's turn to talk with this red headed she-devil.

"Alex, before I leave, I want to say that I'm sorry you had to see that. It was not the time or the place for those activities."

All the kid did was nod.

"Apology accepted Director. Besides I don't think that Dad has any room to be complain; I'm pretty sure him and Mom got up to things at work", she said with a wink.

Ducky, when he heard this was shocked.

"Alexandra Elizabeth Shepard, what has gotten into you?"

"I'm sorry Ducky; I just had to say that. See you later Director."

After the buzz from letting the little tidbit about her parents slip to the Director; she got nervous. Now she had to talk to the Captain. It was going to be like talking with her father about the whole situation. _Awkward, very awkward_ was her only thought as Captain Rabb walked in.

"Gutenmorgen, Kapitän."

"Alexandra, it is not polite to speak in languages that you know somebody does not understand."

"All I said was good morning. Let's just get this done and over with; I don't want to think about this any longer than I have to."

"I'm sorry that you had to see that. It was not the time or the place for that kind of behavior."

"It was most definitely not the time or the place. I think that Agent DiNozzo could use some pointers…" Alex said with a smirk.

"I did not need to know that. Why did you feel the need to say that?"

"I felt it was necessary."

"You ready to testify?"

"Ready and loaded for bear, Captain."

"See you tomorrow; that's when you are going to be testifying. You'll be picked up at NCIS."

* * *

Russian to English Translations

Good Morning, Director.

You can speak Russian? I'm impressed.

That I can.

* * *

**Reviews help the muse breath. Thank you all for your patience.**


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